LEGON JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES VOLUME 22 2011

LEGON JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIESVOLUME 22 2011

Editor Helen A. Yitah

Assistant Editor Kofi Ackah

ISBN 0855-1502

ii Legon Journal of the HUMANITIES

Volume 22 (2011)

INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS

Legon Journal of the Humanities is published once a year by the Faculty of Arts, University of Ghana. It publishes the following types of contributions: (1) general or technical articles in the fields of research dealing with the humanities from scholars in all countries and (2) review articles on new, particularly noteworthy books. The language of publication is English.

MANUSCRIPT FORM

Manuscripts should be typed double space (including endnotes, questions and reference list) on 8.5”x11” or A4 paper. An article should not exceed 40 pages. Three copies of each article are to be submitted to “The Editor, Legon Journal of the Humanities, University of Ghana, Faculty of Arts, P.O. Box LG 69, Accra, Ghana.”

ABSTRACT

Each manuscript should be accompanied by an abstract of not more than 100 words.

CITATIONS

In the text, citation should take the following forms: (1) New evidence can be found in Yeboah (1993); (2) Brown (1979) claims that his theory marks a new era in social research; and (3) She argued for a new policy that will “promote the dignity of both men and women” (Agbo 1994: 17). Citations should be done in the text, not in the endnotes.

NOTES

Notes commenting on or explaining points made in the text should appear after the main text, not at the bottom of the page. They should be double-spaced.

SYMBOLS

Conventional, current type-faces are to be used. Special symbols and diagrams should be avoided as much as possible.

iiiLegon Journal of the HUMANITIES Volume 22 (2011)

REFERENCES

All works consulted should be listed at the end of each article under the headline REFERENCES. Authors should be listed alphabetically. The entries should consistently follow the examples below:

Kachru, B.B. 1992. World Englishes: Approaches, issues and resources. Language Teaching.

24: 1-14.Sey, K.A. 1973. Ghanaian English. London: Macmillan,Yankah, K. 1995. Speaking for the Chief: The Politics of Akan Royal Oratory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

AUTHOR IDENTIFICATION

Each article should be accompanied by a separate sheet indicating the title of the paper as well as the following information about the author: (1) full name (family name last), (2) institutional affiliation and (3) current status (e.g., Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Professor, etc).

For the purpose of blind reviews, the first page of each article should not bear the name of the author.

EDITORIAL BOARDCephas Omenyo……………………………………..........………..Chairman

Helen A. Yitah………………………………………...….......................Editor

Kofi Ackah………………………………………………....…….Asst. Editor

Joana Boampong………………………………….....…….…...........Member

Rosemary Amenga-Etego…………………………………...............Member

Vera Arhin------------------------------------------------------------Member

G.N. Adam………………………………………...........................….Member

T.E. Andoh………………………………………………..............….Member

iv Legon Journal of the HUMANITIES

Volume 22 (2011)

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD

David Owusu-Ansah, James Madison University, U.S.A.

Emmanuel K. Akyeampong, Harvard University, U.S.A.

Laud Ato Quayson, University of Toronto, Canada

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE

Editorial correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, Legon Journal of the Humanities, University of Ghana, Faculty of Arts, P.O. Box LG 69, Accra, Ghana. Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

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vLegon Journal of the HUMANITIES Volume 22 (2011)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The editor would like to thank all who helped with the work of Legon Journal of the Humanities at every stage. Special thanks to Professors A.N. Mensah, M.E. Kropp Dakubu and K. Dako, and to Ms. Faustina Koomson, for their selfless service which has made this volume possible.

Helen Yitah.

vi Legon Journal of the HUMANITIES

Volume 22 (2011)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

“Marking Transgressive Spaces and Bodies: A Review of Contemporary Ghanaian Poetry”.Prince K.Adika.....................................................................................1

Language Policy, Language Choice and Language Use in the Tanzanian ParliamentJosephine Dzahene-Quarshie .............................................................27

Attitudes of Educated Yoruba Bilinguals to CodeswitchingA.T. Akande, O. B. Okanlawon and O. T.Akinwale.........................71

“Orality in Osundare’s Poetry:‘WH-ASK’ and ‘NP-WH-LET’ Constructions”.Samson Dare ........................................................................................93

“Locative Constructions and Positional Verbs in Logba”.Kofi Dorvlo.........................................................................................107

“Reflexive Pronouns in Dagbani”.Samuel Alhassan Issah.......................................................................129

“Adverbial Placement in Ewe: A Role and Reference Grammar Perspective”. Ameyo S. Awku...................................................................................147

“The Place We Call Home and Other Poems: A Review Article”.A.N. Mensah.......................................................................................177

1 Adika

Marking Transgressive Spaces And Bodies:A Review Of Contemporary Ghanaian Poetry

Prince K. Adika1

Abstract

This paper reviews contemporary Ghanaian poetry in the light of emerging scholarly discourses about transnational cultural traffic, especially as they relate to Africa and its post-slavery Diasporas in the Western world. The paper argues that while most studies of Ghanaian poetry have been framed by narrowly conceived nationalist viewpoints related to the limiting and inherited mandates of European colonialism, contemporary Ghanaian poetry actually embraces a wider conception of nation that invokes spaces and bodies in both the Ghanaian/African homeland and the Diaspora. The paper argues that nation-language, for Ghanaian poets as much as it was for Kamau Brathwaite and others in the African Diaspora, rests on a foundation of multiple memories and historical experiences drawn from the spaces of both the African continent and its Diasporas, and that is precisely why the imagination of nation in Ghanaian poetry paradoxically transgresses the borders of Ghana and logically leads to transnational transactions.1

1.0 Introduction

One of the remarkable things about attitudes to African literary productions of the past century or so is how closely many of those works have been identified with all kinds of national projects and narratives. Over and over again, both African creative writers and their readers have gauged the value of “authentic” African literary works in terms of how useful they are to the socio-cultural and political unit of the nation and its ambitions. That tendency has been even more pronounced with regard to Ghana. For instance, Kwaku Larbi Korang’s (2003: 2) assertion that Joseph Casely Hayford’s pioneering work, Ethiopia Unbound (1911) is a “pathfinding…national allegory…a representative work of early middle class nationalism” succinctly captures an earlier, colonial era version of 1 Prince K. Adika is a Lecturer in the Department of English, University of Ghana.

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the close affinity between literature and the national project in Ghanaian literature. Korang’s reading of Ethiopia Unbound and the broader tradition of nationalist literature it inaugurates is one that is shared by relatively recent works of scholarship on the subject, including Priebe (1988), Angmor (1996 and 2004) and Anyidoho and Gibbs (2000). For instance, in the introduction to Fontomfrom: Contemporary Ghanaian Literature, Theatre and Film (2000), Anyidoho does not only agree with the existence of a link between the nationalist project and the production of imaginative literature in Ghana, but also goes on to identify specific “defining metaphors” that Ghanaian writers invoke to champion that nationalist agenda. It is fair to say that this affinity between the creation of literature and the process of imagining the nation can be found in all the genres of Anglophone Ghanaian literature, whether we look for it in the poetry of early writers like Raphael Armattoe, in the more overtly political life writing of Kwame Nkrumah in the mid-century, amidst the varied works of the cultural nationalists of the 1950s and beyond, or even in more contemporary, 21st century works.2

Given such a background of close links between literature and the national project in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa, there has been a tendency among scholars to overlook an equally important—some would say related—dynamic in Ghanaian literature: its tendency to collapse and even subvert the very national boundaries it has so often been identified with. The present paper is an attempt to analyse some samples of contemporary Ghanaian poetry that do not confine themselves to the old notion of the bounded nation and the essentialisms and invented traditionalisms it often seems to fetishize, but instead attempt to perform identities that may best be described as transnational because the scope of their references—spatial, bodily, or otherwise— straddle multiple national boundaries. These works, as I argue, show a keen awareness of the limitations of the narrowly conceived postcolonial nation as a marker of belonging and identity, and re-focus our attention on transnational imaginaries of identity that, while not totally ignoring the old national boundaries, remind us once again of the relevance of Frantz Fanon’s famous assertion that the proper pursuance of national consciousness would ultimately have international or transnational implications.3

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Transnationalism and African Literary Imaginations: A Brief Literature Review

It is worth pointing out right from the outset that in broad terms, the concept of transnationalism with which I intend to frame this discussion is not altogether new; neither is it a peculiarly Ghanaian or African phenomenon. It is also worth pointing out that we can not talk about the transnational in a conceptual vacuum; it is defined from/against early conceptions of the nation such as Benedict Anderson’s famous “imagined communities” or even Ernest Renan’s more historicized declaration that the nation is “based on the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories…and present-day consent” (1990: 19). Yet since Marshall McLuhan came up with his notion of “the global village” to describe the highly interactive nature of the modern world, diverse scholars have pointed to the diminishing relevance of the nation as the dominant socially imagined space of our times. For example, Mary Louise Pratt, in her seminal essay, “Arts of the Contact Zone”, refers to the growing importance of transnational contact zones and defines them as “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived in different parts of the world today” (1991: 530). Like Louise Pratt, Anzaldua (1987) posits the emergence and increasing eminence of border personalities whose lives, linguistic heritages and legacies of memories are on the thresholds of the nation and challenge old notions of pure, centered national identities while stressing the in-between spaces where old notions of the nation are most susceptible to challenge. In addition, Appadurai (1996), Sassen (1998), Maalouf (2001), Ngaboh-Smart (2004), Manuh (2006), and Jeyifo (2009) have all stressed the ascendance of the transnation and transnational identities into prominence against the enabling background of what Benedict Anderson (1983: 5) had earlier referred to as the inherent limitations of national narratives of imagined communities in conceptualizing both time and place. From the works of these scholars and others, we can summarize the transnation as being a fluid, translocal, contact-based, ethno-social formation that is situated on the interstitial faultlines of nation. The transnational can be marked on spaces in and outside of the nation because those spaces have some historical or contemporary experiences in common; it can


also be marked on bodies that live those historical or contemporary experiences and therefore organize cultural reflexes in response to those experiences. In sum, the outlines of the transnation come into proper focus on the foundations of the old nation and its essential narratives, but the chief distinguishing mark of transnational spaces or bodies is that they transcend those essential narratives of national purity and instead thrive on the impurities that the nation has always sought to eliminate by championing essentialist discourses.

While it is generally assumed that the turn to the transnational in recent times is largely driven by the postnational impulse of global Capital’s movements, a close reading of the emerging scholarship also strongly suggests that much of what drives contemporary transnationalism especially in postcolonial spaces has its roots in the historical anomaly of the postcolonial national imaginary which, many critics argue, extends anachronistic colonial-era cartographies beyond their expiry dates while perpetuating the truncation or even erasure of most of the nation’s contending multiple memories. The postcolonial nation and the way it is imagined, in this regard, does not account for all of the memories that members of the postcolonial nation have of kinship and relational associations. Nor does it attempt to come to terms with evolving realities that members of the nation-state have to constantly contend with. Colonial boundaries, arbitrary as they were, tended to disregard real social formations of colonized peoples, or rather worked consciously to distort them. One can point to multiple examples of this phenomenon in various colonized spaces such us the British Raj or even the erstwhile Francophone Maghreb. But perhaps the most obvious instance of this colonial balkanization can be found in sub-Saharan Africa where colonial policies such as the British “divide and rule” were actively employed to distort social cohesion while arbitrary borders, mostly drawn in European capitals, were imposed against the wills of native peoples.

Furthermore, even before the advent of formal colonialism, the institution of chattel slavery had done much to create a network of organized dismemberments which, as Ngugi (2009), Armah (2010), and others have shown, the postcolonial/neocolonial nation-state neither accounts for nor recognizes as a matter that needs to be redressed. Ngugi, Armah

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and others rightly argue that to simply embrace a rhetoric of nation that legitimizes boundaries inherited from colonial times is to consciously participate in the process of one’s own continued dismemberment, especially since those boundaries were imagined and willed into being by the powerful elites from the West for whom the practice of colonialism was also the practice of dismemberment of the Other. In further extending the critique of that insular model of the national imaginary inherited from the colonizing West, one is also reminded of Partha Chatterjee’s (2005: 406) biting criticism of postcolonial national constructs that are throw-backs to an era of European colonialist imposition:

If nationalisms in the rest of the world have to choose their imagined community from certain “modular” forms already made available to them by Europe and the Americas, what do they have left to imagine? History, it would seem, has decreed that we in the postcolonial world shall be perpetual consumers of modernity. Europe and the Americas, the only true subjects of history, have thought on our behalf not only the script of colonial enlightenment and exploitation, but also that of our anticolonial resistance and postcolonial misery. "Even our imaginations must forever remain colonized" (my emphasis).

As I intend to show later in this paper, much of the driving force behind Ghanaian poets of the transnationalist bent derives from the need to overcome or transcend this tendency in some circles to indulge “imaginations that must forever remain colonized”. It is driven by a determination to balance existing national narratives with their transnational extensions and, to paraphrase Kofi Anyidoho’s words, connect with aspects of the Ghanaian/African Self that present constructions of the nation do not account for. With that background in mind, I go on to analyze the poetry of Kofi Anyidoho, Abena Busia and others as samples of Ghanaian poetry that encode the transnational logic that, as I argue, is prominent in much of contemporary Ghanaian literature.4


2.0 Kofi Anyidoho

To many critics, the work of Kofi Anyidoho as a poet points to an artist with multiple personae. To some, he is the author of sentimental juvenilia in the pages of Ellen Sangster Geer’s Talent for Tomorrow series. Robert Fraser argues that his more adult work is stronger on the level of musical style because it complements Leopold Sedar Senghor’s “syncopating syllabic strands” and also “showcases a strong, individual voice over communal concerns” (Fraser 1986: 311-318). Kofi Awoonor notes that Anyidoho’s poetry tackles “the eternal situation of the African condition” (qtd in Priebe 1988: 162) while Charles Angmor sees Anyidoho as “the poet of the Ghanaian revolution” whose artistry “bespeaks fundamental influences…from his native Ewe culture…and the national cultural renaissance that has been prevalent since Ghana’s independence” (Angmor 1996: 186). Finally, A.N. Mensah stresses how Anyidoho adapts traditional conventions for his love poems (qtd in Anyidoho and Gibbs 2000: 217-226).

These critical views summarize critics’ responses to Anyidoho’s poetry over the past thirty years or so and are useful for our understanding of aspects of his work, especially the earlier work. But they do not account for the expanding notions of the Self and the World that Anyidoho’s more recent works have engaged with. For instance, his 1993 collection, AncestralLogic and CaribbeanBlues opens with a poetic passage he calls the “IntroBlues.” There the poet explains to us how:

In the last decade or so I have journeyed into various spaces of the world. And everywhere I must confront dimensions of myself that I did not know were there. I discover new purposes I did not know I could make my own. There is something of my story carved into every tombstone in all the graveyards of the world, something of my history enshrined in every monument and in every anthem ever erected in honour of the spirit of endurance (1993:2).

Two dominant images jump out at us immediately from this passage. First, there is the image of journeying or travelling that occupies the persona; then there is the image of wide-flung multi-national spaces captured by the reference to “the various spaces of the world”. We are

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also made aware that the persona is not a stranger on a joyride in foreign spaces. Rather, what he is really doing is embracing visions of himself for which the postcolonial nation—in this case, Ghana— and its narrowly conceived narratives cannot account. He is confronting “dimensions of myself that I did not know were there” as a result of the limiting impact of his old limiting worldview and sense of belonging (Anyidoho, 1993: xi). The above text is thus a passage about fluid motion across global(ized) spaces, but it also acquires more power if we pay attention to the persona’s claim that his story—and by implication, the stories of many Ghanaians and Africans like him—transcends the borders of the nation since in pursuance of a more rounded understanding of himself, he must ultimately embrace the transnational dimensions of his being.

All of AncestralLogic and CaribbeanBlues is shaped by a keen awareness of an African history which in its worst moments is “a living wound under the patchwork of scars” and at other times is no more than the maimed offshoot of the multiple dismembering practices of centuries-old encounters with Europe.5 But the collection is also a response to the contemporary transnational ramifications of the asymmetrical North-South contact phenomenon. The very title of the collection attests to these related driving forces, and so does its introductory poem, “IntroBlues”. In subsequent poems, we see a soulful, bluesy persona covering miles across spaces in the Black Atlantic and engaging with Caribbean history, not with the detached eye of a foreign observer, but rather with the involved psyche of a man who reads himself as being part of all the tortured sub-worlds he portrays. Written in part as a manifesto against those who “tell us our salvation lies in the repudiation of our history of pain and endless fragmentation” (Anyidoho, 1993: xi), and in part as vigorous interrogation of the “the intimidating splendour of this young history of lies” (Anyidoho, 1993: 3) that enables amnesia across the fragmented African world, AncestralLogic also connects both the African and the African Diasporan experience in a network of inevitable mutuality and encourages dialogic engagements between African-heritage peoples scattered across various national boundaries both within and without Africa.


It would seem on the evidence of much of the poems in Anyidoho’s recent works that he is a poet who is very much concerned with the exploration of transnational spaces. And we could read the poet’s poignant references to a “history of pain and endless fragmentation” and “the young history of lies” above in a number of fruitful ways that bring that engagement with transnational space to the fore. For instance, in subsequent poems like “Republica Dominicana,” the dual processes of fragmentation and dispersal across multiple spaces and the lies that prevent their reversal are illustrated thus: “Dispossessed of your ancestry/your BlackNess/Dissolves into Vague regions/of the Indios Myth” (Anyidoho, 1993: 8). The subjects of this poem are not only stripped of connections to their original African memories but also have to contend with palimpsests or grafted myths that are used to supplant those old memories. As we read through successive pieces in the collection, we are increasingly made aware that the structures (and strictures) of the slave, colonial and even postcolonial societies contribute a great deal to this fragmentation and amnesia. Consequently, when the poet envisages a new, emancipatory poetics of remembering as a solution to the dismemberment that he finds all around him, he organizes that process in defiance of various national boundaries. As he had found out by personal experience, one must start the process of psychic healing by traversing dismembering borders of all sorts, and crossing the Atlantic, challenging the Indios myth, invoking African memories in its place, among other things, are all part of this process.

That Anyidoho calls for transnational journeys of reconnection across spaces in Ancestrallogic is obvious enough, but he is also particular about the routes of those journeys and the final destination. The poet or the personae that speak for him are keen on making the journeys into the Diaspora and engaging with Diasporans, but he is equally keen for Diasporans to cross over; so keen that sometimes one gets the feeling that he is even more in favour of the journey of Diaspora back to homeland than he is of that of homeland to Diaspora. Certainly, this vision of journeys back to homeland in Anyidoho’s poetry is not always to be read literally, but we cannot discount the literal dimensions either. On several occasions in the collection, the poet points out that, short of the journeys back into the space of primal beginnings, the efforts of various Black peoples at self-cognition are futile and misdirected, insisting in the process that,

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…all our journeys must always take us away from destinations into Dislocationsuntil one day, tired at last from endlesstrailings of lost purpose and lost visionwe mark the only straight route from Ghana to Havana to Guyana and on and on to Savannah in Georgia of the deep deep

South. With AfricanaAirways, we can re-navigate the Middle Passage clear the old debris and freshen the waters with iodine and soul-chlorine (1993:12)

In other words, the poet insists that current efforts to progressively advance the cause of the Black peoples across the world and heal abscesses from their historical wounds are failing and leading to “Dislocations” precisely because those efforts often do not engage the critically important subject of transnational, cross-continental pan-Africanist dialogue in all its historical complexity. Part of this complex engagement involves Africans like Anyidoho journeying into various Diasporan spaces to engage with them, but its critical counterpart involves the return journey back to Africa instead of away from it, and Anyidoho insists that making that return is possible only through the pan-Africanist medium of what he calls “AfricanaAirways.” Even more to the point, he castigates those who do not count the relevance of re-navigating the Middle Passage as a central part of this process but subscribe to the dominant tendency to allow “the old debris” of historical amnesia and lack of dialogic engagement between the African Diasporas and Homelands to worsen the suppuration of the wounds on both sides. It is a broad canvass of re-engagement that the poet paints, but we also have to remember, especially in the context of this paper’s thesis, that the ultimate consummation of the kind of remembering that the poet advocates can be made possible only through transnational engagements. The poet implies that one flouts commitments to one’s Ghanaianness to engage with Caribbeans or African Americans as members of a more comprehensively imagined sense of identity, but these infringements are necessary stepping stones for coming to terms with the dimensions of the African self in all its implications and extensions.

AncestralLogic, then, is set up partly as a rebuke of those who are unwilling to make journeys across national boundaries to engage in productive transnational engagement, but it also champions transnational


adventurers who seek to renew kinship across the Atlantic. For instance, “Lolita Jones,” which is partly dedicated to Maya Angelou and her time in Africa in the 1960s, is spoken in the voice of a female African Diasporan returnee to Africa who engages in dialogue with Africans about subjects as diverse as her name, the Atlantic slave trade, contemporary African politics and her claims to a place in the contemporary African world. Lolita also points out that she had made a conscious decision to “fly over and find ma Space” in the post-independence African era simply because she thought the dawn of new hope “gave her back her soul” for reconnection with African kinsfolk (1993: 28). More importantly though, Lolita had also concluded that her coming to African space would enable “Ma People” and “your People” to dialogue over the lingering questions of how “Long ago your People sold ma People” and consequently, how the Atlantic storms of the Middle Passage “took away our Voice/Then it took away our Name/And it stripped us of our Soul” (1993: 27). At the end of the poem the persona makes it clear that she is aware of the transgressions that are implied in her laying claims to “ma Space” in Africa since “you didn’t even invite me here at all” (1993: 29). In other words, the fact that new narratives of the postcolonial nation do not account for the histories that produced the Lolita Joneses of this world is being questioned here, and the poet obviously encourages the tendency towards transgressing those postcolonial narratives through transnational engagements.

Taken as a whole, AncestralLogic is a strident invitation to kinship carnivals in defiance of old, colonially circumscribed national boundaries. And it is directed at both Africans in the Diaspora and those in the homeland. But AncestralLogic is not the only collection that showcases the efforts by Anyidoho to come to terms with the transnational dimensions of the Black Self. In the more recent PraiseSong for the Land (2002) which, significantly, is dedicated to “all the people I call My People”, the theme of transnational journeys over spaces informed by history dominates once more. In the opening poem, “Memory and Vision”—itself part of a section called “Journeys into Time”—the persona finds it necessary to remind his readers about the Oddysean journeys of Africans over the past half millennium:

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For Five Hundred Years—and more—We have journeyed from AfricaThrough the Virgin Islands into Santo DomingoFrom Havana in Cuba to Savanna in GeorgiaFrom Vodou Shores of Haiti to MontegoBay in Jamaica from GhanaTo Guyana from the Shanty-TownsOf Johannesburg to the FavelasIn Rio de JaneiroFrom Bukom to Harlem to BrixtonFrom Hamburg to Moscow to Kyoto— (2002: 28)

Given the fact that PraiseSong for the Land is something of a eulogy to the land/space of belonging, the global journeys suggested by this and other similar poems in the collection call our attention once again to Anyidoho’s growing concern with a vision of the national polity that, paradoxically, is driven by a poetics of the transnation. “Memory and Vision,” like much of Anyidoho’s poetry, evokes a pathos that must be familiar to those who know something about the Ewe dirge form or the song of sorrow. That acute ear for the sorrowful cadence has been transported into the written medium to serve Anyidoho’s latest engagements with the travails of Black people around and across the world. Like Langston Hughes’ famous poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “Memory and Vision” follows the historical journeys of Africans across the world. Anyidoho attempts to historicize the global sprawl of the African Diaspora in the lines above. But through that process of historicism, he also tries to excavate the reasons that led to those journeys of Diaspora-creation in the first place. Though he does not say so explicitly, there is the heavy implication in the lines above that the “journeys” by Black people from Africa to these various slums around the world that he refers to are anything but voluntary, especially since their genesis coincides with the beginning of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade five hundred years ago.

This criss-crossing of global spaces in an attempt to engage versions of the Black world in those spaces is a common theme in PraiseSong and elsewhere in Anyidoho’s work. But with specific reference to “Memory and Vision”, he points out how these journeys help him only to consistently


discover “a Dispossessed and Battered (African) people still kneeling in a Sea of Blood lying deep in the Path of Hurricanes” (2002: 28). To Anyidoho, a critical part of the answer to resolving the crisis of African peoples, whether they live in Hamburg or Kyoto or Harlem or Bukom, lies in an unwavering transversal of those ghettoized, cut-off spaces, followed by a new commitment to transnational kinship traffic which begins with a return to the historical space and time of first beginnings. To put that insight in perspective, he invokes memories of space that are meant to encourage African peoples across the world to reengage with the African Homeland and with the history that led to the break between the African Homeland and the Diaspora. Rather than encourage what he considers the fashion for amnesia or conspiratorial hiding from the history of pain and fragmentation that created the dire situations he sees around him, he asserts that any attempt to solve the contemporary problems of Africans around the world has to reckon with the history of the past five hundred years. He points out,

No matter how far away we try to hide away fromOurselvesWe will have to come backHome and find out Where and How and WhyWe lostThe light in our Eyes. How and WhyWe have become Eternal Orphans living on Crumbs and LeftOvers (2002: 29)

Returning home, to the persona, is essential for communal healing and renewal. Above the limited conception of home as African space, the stress in these poems by Anyidoho, it seems to me, is on traversing national boundaries and engaging in kinship dialogues with other African-heritage peoples. These journeys, as I have tried to show, challenge the essential foundational thesis of the postcolonial nation in various ways. But to us as readers, the larger point that needs to be kept in mind is that the poet seems to have no problems with transgressing the boundaries of the postcolonial nation of Ghana and embracing transnational kinship precisely because he sees those transnational journeys and engagements as key to a new era of healing and even social progress.

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The point about the exploration of transnational space in Anyidoho’s work is further supported by evidence from his latest collection, The Place We Call Home (2011). Although the collection is anchored by a title poem which asserts that there is a lot to be said for the nostalgic memories and familiar scents of the “place we call home” because it “defines our sense of Self of Time of Place” and holds “Primal Memories” (31-35), the poet is also concerned about the complacent tendency on the part of some to consign themselves only to that space. Even by naming that space “the place we call home,” he is calling our attention not to an absolute, essential place that marks being and identity, but rather to a strategic adoption of space; a local address that would serve as a staging ground for further explorations of our “backwards-forwards dance” into the various transnational spaces where kinsfolk now dwell as spirits or as living humans. That is the more reason why The Place We Call Home is filled with “Crossroads” and “Crossways” and journeys across “space and time” to come to terms with “Our constant act of dismembering/Our sacrificial egg/laid at the shrines of alien gods”, as the poet puts it in his homage to Kamau Brathwaite in “Atigbon Legba” (2011: 29-30).

The point being made about transnational engagements of the pan-Africanist variety in The Place We Call Home is noted by Femi Osofisan who, in his preface to the collection, points to how “Kofi displays an impressive intimacy with the geography and genealogy of black dispersal throughout the world, from the entire North and South America to the Caribbean and then to the Eastern Hemisphere” (Anyidoho 2011: xxiii-xxiv). That statement is particularly true of the “first movement” of The Place We Call Home which, as I have tried to show with examples above, constitutes nothing but movements into Diaspora and back to African space in a series of kinship rituals meant to challenge the history of dismemberment. “Ancestral Roll-Call” which is a libation-invocation of personas of various nationalities from across the Black world, appropriately sums up his transnational cum pan-Africanist bent in this latest collection; a fact which in turn reasserts the continuing relevance of transnational visions and hopes in the poetry of Anyidoho and increasingly, of other Ghanaian writers.


3.0 Abena Busia

The dominant imagery of journeying across transnational spaces in search of the scattered remnants of self that characterises much of Anyidoho’s recent poetry is echoed in Abena Busia’s poetry. Yet apart from traversing transnational spaces, Busia’s poetry is also significant for focusing our attention on transnational bodies of Black people straddling and being straddled by various spaces within the Black Atlantic. It is in this regard that Busia extends Anyidoho’s engagements with spaces of transnational transaction. Unlike Anyidoho, however, Busia’s critique of the nation has a more radically subversive tone, as she sometimes appears to be calling for the total abolition of the postcolonial nation and all its claims to being the place of first belonging. In addition, she at the same time lionizes a perpetual exilic state of being and consciousness as the model for the postnational/transnational persona. This reading is in keeping with her major collection so far, the aptly titled Testimonies of Exile (1990). In Testimonies, Busia begins by recreating series of images that conform to Pratt’s contact zone concept of bodies of the colonized and the colonizer in contact. The opening poem from that collection—and perhaps Busia’s most anthologized— is called “Caliban.” “Caliban” primarily revises our understanding of the Shakespearean character of the same name. Busia’s Caliban starts off as a native who finds himself locked up in a scenario of asymmetrical relations of power with a Master. As a result, s/he is left with bondage, dispossession and the dubious consolation of speaking “this dispossession in the language of the master.” But being Caliban, for Busia, has other implications. For instance, it paves the way for the now enslaved native’s body to receive the mark of doom, so to speak, and to be “ravished and naked/chanting the words of a little girl lost/…a black man’s child/stranded on the shores of saxon seas” (1990: 5). The contact experience, in this scheme of affairs, logically leads to an eternal exilic existence for all Caliban-like natives and that experience becomes the Ur-text for all of Busia’s subsequent portrayals of the world and for self-cognition in Testimonies.

From what must have been sure-footed beginnings of pre-Encounter native self-knowledge and self-possession, what we notice in poems such as “and anyway i can’t go home” is an overwhelming sense of alienation

15 Adika

and a perennial wandering in search of a new identity forged in the crucible of Encounter. Like the Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish’s visions of exile from the Self, Busia’s personas are exiled bodies branded by markers of a foreign power that insists on keeping them in zones that straddle being and non-being.6 And from that externally imposed atrophy of Self-hood, they must create a new language of Being. From the caves of Calibanesque transmogrification, they “have learned and dismantled all the words in order to draw from them a single word: Home” (Busia, 1990: 7). Yet this search—or searches—are doomed to failure because they learn soon enough that they cannot go home. We are thus made aware of the consequent tragic inevitability of their Odyssean fate; the never-ending wanderlust that must drive them on perennial transnational journeys across boundaries and frontiers of old nations in search of psychic purgation and kinship renewal without the consolation, however far removed or mythical in a Saffranesque sense, of a return home at some future date. In “Migrations” she re-emphasizes that exilic, nomadic reality thus:

We have lived that moment of the scattering of the people—Immigrant, Migrant, Emigrant, Exile,…That in other nations, other lives, other places has become: The gathering of last warriors on lost frontiers/The gathering of lost refugees on lasting border-camps,/The gathering of the indentured on the side-walks of strange cities…In the half-life, half-light of alien tongues,/In the uncanny fluency of the other’s language…All my friends are exiles,/born in one place, we live in another/ And with true sophistication,/rendezvous in most surprising places—/where you would never expect to find us/With the globe at our command, we have everywhere to go, but home. (1990: 8-9)

Driven by exigencies of both history and contemporary global pressures, the “we” of “Migrations” are also marked by another quality: their resistance to national boundaries and the nation’s narrowly conceived and yet totalizing narratives, especially in the light of the dispossessing effect of the master’s power on them. In fact, by taking up labels such as “immigrant, migrant, emigrant, exile” and so on, they hold themselves up as warriors whose spaces of operation the nation cannot control precisely because they live on the margins of the nation while at the same time


transcending it. One reads a certain ennui generated by loss dominating the lives of these scattered migrants of the new world order, but it is also obvious that these are people determined to transform the loss of home into a new syllabary of identity that challenges the dispossessing discourses of the old nation. This desire not to be confined by the limiting definitions of the nation is stressed even more loudly in another poem, “Petitions” where we are made aware that these same renegades of national space have defiantly,

…asked for courage Notto belong, Not to identify, Notto regret.Not to confine the spaces of our soulsTo the places of our first heart beatNot to let withering umbilical cordskeep us parched (1990: 19)

Perhaps what Busia calls “petitions” in this poem might sound odd to those of us who are used to belonging to and identifying with various standard social formations and communities, especially the particular kind circumscribed by the borders of the postcolonial nation-state. Significantly, this abjuration of belonging is loudly in defiance of birthplace and homeland; the same places that Anyidoho’s poetry has strongly pointed to as the destiny of all those who want to undo the effects of colonial dismemberment. Even more importantly, she seems to strongly suggest that the fetishization of return-to-homeland narratives can only have retrogressive consequences for those who pursue them (“confine the spaces of our souls”/ “keep us parched”).

But her wishes/prayers/requests/demands make sense if we understand them not as absolute abjurations of all sense of belonging and identification but rather as references to the untenable nature of keeping allegiances to essences and dehydrating monologic narratives at the base of the postcolonial nation and its alter-egos in centers of colonial power. In the portion of “Petitions” quoted above, and elsewhere in Busia’s poetry,

17 Adika

what we see is the subversion of birth-place fetishism, the unquestioned and unchallenged glorification of the place of the first heartbeat and the burial ground of the metaphorical umbilical cord—in the face of multiple sojourns across multiple spaces forced on us by the realities of history and every day life. In other words, Busia is telling us that fixed identities, especially those derived from and limited to the nation, are not tenable in the face of the multiple transnational sojourns and contacts that various people have as a result of history and contemporary developments. In fact, in what seems to be an extension of her radical diversion from Anyidoho, she seems to be discarding the very idea of nation as the basis of identity, and consequently advocating the acknowledgement of the new being founded on the very ruins of allegiance to the nation. In other words, in Busia’s work one transcends the nation, not to extend it, but rather to abolish it so that other realities suppressed by the nation might flourish.

This reading is supported most eloquently by perhaps the most powerful and emotionally effective poem in Testimonies, “At Last Rites.” In it, Busia creates a poetic vision very similar to that of Anyidoho as discussed earlier, by reminding her readers of the multiple dimensions of herself that lie scattered in multiple spaces across continents and how these multiple dimensions came to be in those many places. She, too, explains why she (or bodies like hers) must wander over various transnational spaces through her lifetime to come to terms with herself. Yet, that is where the comparison with Anyidoho ends. “At Last Rites” is a defiant poke at those who want to re-collect and return; to go “home to that place where otherwise I will not go”. Busia seems more interested in expanding the pace of her “furious wanderings” and the “passion of disharmonies” that overwhelm her body now. She also asserts her determination to stay that way till death, effectively sounding the clarion for a lifetime of activist rejection of the notion of exclusive belonging to nations or even larger formations such as continents. As she succinctly puts it:

iI am a passion of disharmonies axing my dismembering selfsplitting my body among continentsAt my death re/collect me.


Steady me into a casketand take me home to that place where otherwise I will not go

ii. let’s not twi-st down or re le ve o ver my r-o-ving ra ging bones.A four step hesitation will pace this rageAn economy of movement to containThe grief for furious wanderingsThe grace of a-do-wa will mark my fi-nal timeSo pray it can staythe course of severed histories;hold still, to give me rest,the portion of earth which gave me birth

By the adoption of a succession of –ing verbs in “axing” and “dismembering” and “splitting” she also signals her active embrace of those on-going, dismembering processes. It is important that we do not lose sight of the context of these statements: in embracing dismemberment this way, Busia is obviously acknowledging histories of dismemberment that African-heritage peoples have experienced over the years. But she is also embracing those histories not as regrettable cataclysms that need to be undone but rather as staging grounds for new transnational identities. And even more to the point of our argument, she is acknowledging transnational movements as the natural consequence of severed histories and calling for a progressive appropriation of those histories.

In sum, we may say that Busia’s struggle to come to terms with identity involves reckoning with dimensions of herself split among continents and nations in the course of “furious wanderings.” For her, the simple—and simplistic—answer of the national birth-place cannot explain the complex histories that have marked her and her “passionate” wanderings

19 Adika

over the years. Her whole life as represented by Testimonies is summed up by a quest to reckon with severed histories that have also dismembered the self. Her body itself is marked as an index of those wanderings and migrations and dispersals and scatterings across national boundaries. But rather than putting shattered pieces of dismemberment together, she is more interested in defiantly “staying the course of severed histories”. Whichever way we look at that decision, we also must understand her or the multiple voices that speak in Testimonies as transnational sojourners whose very bodies and the passion of disharmonies that occupy them become the symbolic sites of an important version of the transnational agon in contemporary Ghanaian literature.

5.0 Other Ghanaian Poets and the Transnational Impulse

While this discussion has focused largely on Anyidoho and Busia as eloquent spokespersons for two major manifestations of the transnational instinct in contemporary Ghanaian poetic expression, we could isolate a generous amount of poetic works from other Ghanaian writers that speak to the same tendency. For instance, works such as Kobena Eyi Acquah’s Music for a Dream Dance (1989) and Kofi Awoonor’s Latin American and Caribbean Notebook (1992) are organized around the motif of pan-Africanist transnational travels in quest of identity and self-knowledge. In fact, Acquah’s dream dance is nothing but a subversion of national borders in order to embrace the dream dance of Trans-Atlantic pan-Africa, just as Awoonor’s notebook is a record of cross-ocean connections beyond the old, frozen nation-space. A number of Awoonor’s personae in Notebook are particularly sensitive to cross-Atlantic relationships and defy the borders of the postcolonial nation-state to embrace them. For instance, the persona in “Of Niggerhood”, after making long journeys across the Atlantic, uses the mechanism of historical memory to establish kinship with the Caribbean space and the bodies in it thus:

Memory told me I’d been here beforeOnce upon an ageNow lost in ocean waterCompanied by flying fishAcross a briefer ocean (Awoonor, 1992: 37)


Awoonor’s poem is built around a transnational conception of Niggerhood that appropriates the negative historical baggage of the N-word while engaging its potentially progressive uses. Consequently, he invokes the kind of solidarity which only the wretched of the earth are capable of, but in order to make it operational, he reminds his audience about how the oceans and flying fish that once straddled the Transatlantic Slave Trade routes are also the best bridges to that new solidarity of Niggerhood. And one gets to understand this point, the poet suggests, by engaging what lies on both sides of the ocean water(s). Along the same lines of a new spirit of transnational engagement, the persona of Ama Ata Aidoo’s “In Memoriam: The Ghana Drama Studio” (2004), when asked whether she feels at home in Ghana, calls attention to a marked shift in the way home is defined, with a new, transnational definition now in vogue:

I wondered how an old campaigner like you could have asked the question…and the forever pain around my heart/ jumped, roaring for attention/Because comrade/(Holy places and their desecrations aside/and not to mention the sacred duty to feel at home anywhere in Africa,/ and love every bit of this battered and bartered continent which I still, perhaps naively, call my own,)/I thought folks like you n’me had stopped defining Home from way back and have calmly assumed that Home can also be anyplace where someone or other is not trying to fry your mind, roast your arse, or waste you and yours altogether (2004: 27).

Home, as we can see in Aidoo’s vision of it above, challenges the old myth making processes of the nation and emphasizes a new strategic, transnational solidarity of African individuals seeking restoration from centuries of colonial battering and bartering. And these seeking individuals, as we have seen in other cases discussed above, are also marked by the fact that they seek that restoration beyond the limits of the nation.

6.0 Conclusion

The key sentiment that runs through the works I have referred to is the tendency to identify with a conception of identity and self-realization that is willing to revise the postcolonial nation-state and its essential,

21 Adika

monologic narratives as the defining markers. At various points and in the opinions of various critics, the poets on whose works this paper has focused produced works that were seen as worthy of enriching our national narratives. Those readings may still be applicable, but in order to make that possible, we would have to go back and interrogate the very meaning of the nation itself in Ghanaian literature. As commentators like Larbi Korang have noted, as early as 1911 when J.E. Casely Hayford’s Ethiopia Unbound was published, the connection between literature and the nationalist consciousness was already in vogue. That trend, it would seem, has continued into contemporary times. But it is also important to note, as this paper has tried to do, that nationalist consciousness in Ghanaian literature and in literatures elsewhere in subaltern spaces of the postcolonial world does not necessarily coincide with mandates inherited from colonial cartographies of the nation. To perceive these literatures in such limited and limiting terms, as Chatterjee suggests, would be to risk our memories and imaginations being colonized all over again especially in times and spaces that we often insist on calling post-colonial. Luckily for us, the creative writers of contemporary Africa have led efforts to transcend those old stultifying notions of the nation. Consequently, much of the creative work by Ghanaian writers that is read as part of imagining the nation as conceptualized in Anderson’s Imagined Communities is also really a process of subverting old understandings of the nation and engaging the transnational dimensions of postcolonial identities. At least, that is the kind of argument that this paper has attempted to make. And although the works of Kofi Anyidoho, Abena Busia, Kofi Awoonor, Ama Ata Aidoo and others have been used to illustrate the point, a larger body of work including those in the genres of prose and drama such as Ayi Kwei Armah’s Osiris Rising, Amma Darko’s Beyond the Horizon, or Benjamin Kwakye’s The Other Crucifix, to mention a few, could easily be used to illustrate the same idea. While it may still be useful to read these works as pieces in the national literature of Ghana, their concentration on various transnational spaces and bodies raises legitimate questions about the limits and extensions of the nation and ultimately, the same works call upon us to do the hard work of re-examining the provenance and teleogy of what we call Ghanaian literature.


Notes ___________________1 Kamau Brathwaite’s concept of nation language which was first elaborated upon in his seminal History of the Voice: The

Development of Nation Language in Anglophone Caribbean Poetry (1984) stresses how Anglophone Caribbean identities, informed by multiple memories of “Ashanti, Congo, Yoruba, all that mighty coast of Western Africa” cannot be easily subsumed under the easy rubric of the postcolonial univocal Anglophone nation, but have to be studied with that broader multi-national historical background in mind. Braithwaite also points out how this “very complex…is now beginning to surface in our literature” (5-8). While Brathwaite’s focus is very much on the language of Caribbean nationhood and its interactions with history, it is still very applicable to this study.

2 The connection between national consciousness, a national culture, and literature far predates the 1950s and the title of J.E. Casely Hayford’s Ethiopia Unbound clearly epitomizes an early version of the desire for a unifying cultural and political imaginary amongst proto-Ghanaians of the turn of the century. But as Charles Angmor points out in Contemporary Literature in Ghana 1911-1978 (1996), a more marked “desire to cultivate the literary tradition…became a national concern” from the 1950s onwards. This movement, popularly known as the cultural nationalist movement, was led by stalwarts like Efua Sutherland and had far-reaching effects on the careers of most Ghanaian writers of the second half of the twenty century.

3 See Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (1967: 199).

4 Kwadwo Opoku Agyemang’s “A Crisis of Balance: The (Mis)Representation of Colonial History and the Slave Experience as Themes in Modern African Literature” presents perhaps the most strident call so far in African scholarship for an engagement with the history of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and its contemporary ramifications. My own argument here, framed by a recognition of Ghanaian poets who engage with the post-Slavery African Diasporan spaces and bodies in a transnational cultural traffic, is an extension to that call for the need for balance beyond the confining legacy of the (post)colonial national imaginary.

5 See Opoku Agyemang, “Introduction,” Cape Coast Castle: A Collection of Poems.

6 Abena Busia herself has admitted to the influence of Darwish’s work on the Diasporic consciousness on her own work although she at her work from a decidedly African perspective. See for instance, Testimonies of Exile (9).

23 Adika

References

Acquah, Kobena Eyi. 1989. Music for a Dream Dance. Accra: Asempa Publishers.

Aidoo, Ama Ata. 2004. “In Memoriam: The Ghana Dance Studio.” In An Anthology of Contemporary Ghanaian Poems. Eds. Woeli Dekutsey and John Sackey. Accra: Woeli Publishing. 26-28.

Anderson, Benedict R.O. (1983) 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism. London; N.Y.: Verso.

Angmor, Charles. 2010. Literature, Life and Present Day Ghana, 1978-2003. Accra: Ghana Universities Press.

Angmor, Charles. 1996. Contemporary literature in Ghana, 1911-1978: A Critical Evaluation. Accra: Woeli Publishing Services.

Anyidoho, Kofi and James Gibbs. 2000. FonTomFrom: Contemporary Ghanaian Literature, Theatre and Film. Atlanta; Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Anyidoho, Kofi. 2011. The Place We Call Home and Other Poems. Oxfordshire: Ayerbia Clarke Publishing Limited.

Anyidoho, Kofi. 2002. PraiseSong for the Land: Poems of Hope and Love and Care. Accra: Subsaharan Publishers.

Anyidoho, Kofi. 1993. AncestralLogic and CaribbeanBlues.

Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press.

Appadurai, Arjun.1996. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Armah, Ayi Kwei. 2010. Remembering the Dismembered Continent: Seedtime Essays. Popenguine: Per Ankh.


Awoonor, Kofi. 1992. Latin American and Caribbean Notebook. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press.

Brathwaite, Kamau. 1984. History of the Voice: The Development of Nation Language in Anglophone Caribbean Poetry. London: New Beacon Books.

Busia, Abena. 1990. Testimonies of Exile. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press.

Chatterjee, Partha. 2005. “Whose Imagined Community?,” Internationalizing Cultural Studies: An Anthology. Eds, Ackbar Abbas and John Nguyen Erni. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 406-412.

Fanon, Frantz. 1967. The Wretched of the Earth. Harmondsworth: Penguin. 199.

Fraser, Robert. 1986. West African Poetry: A Critical Introduction. N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.

Jeyifo, Biodun. 2009. “For Chinua Achebe: The Resilience and Predicament of Obierika,” Things Fall Apart: A Norton Critical Edition. 454-491.

Larbi-Korang, Kwaku. 2004. Writing Ghana, Imagining Africa: Nation and African Modernity. Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press.

Louise Pratt, Mary. (1990) 1996. “Arts of the Contact Zone,” Ways of Reading. Eds. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. Boston: Bedford Books. 528-546.

Manuh, Takyiwaa. 2006. An 11th Region of Ghana?: Ghanaians Abroad. Accra: Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Maloouf, Amin. 2001. In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong. N.Y.: Arcade.

Mensah, A.N. 2000. “Counting the Ways: The Love Poetry of Kofi Anyidoho,” FonTomFrom: Contemporary Ghanaian Literature, Theatre

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and Film. Eds. Kofi Anyidoho and James Gibbs. Atlanta; Amsterdam: Rodopi. 217-226.

Ngaboh-Smart. 2004. Beyond Empire and Nation: Postnational Arguments in the Fiction of Nuruddin Farah and B. Kojo Laing. Amsterdam, N.Y.: Rodopi, 2004.

Ngugi, wa Thiong’o. 2009. Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance. N.Y.: Basic Civitas Books.

Opoku-Agyemang, Kwadwo. 1996. “Introduction,” Cape Coast Castle: A Collection of Poems. Accra: Afram Publications Ltd. 1-10.

Priebe, Richard. 1988. Ghanaian Literatures. N.Y.: Greenwood Press.

Renan, Ernest. 1990. “What is A Nation?” Nation and Narration.

Ed. Homi Bhabha. London and N.Y.: Routledge. 8-22.

Sassen, Saskia. 1998. Globalization and Its Discontents. N.Y.: New Press.

26 Legon Journal of the HUMANITIES

Volume 22 (2011)

27Dzahene-Quarshie

Language Policy, Language Choice and Language Use in the Tanzanian Parliament

Josephine Dzahene-Quarshie1

Abstract

The paper examines the pros and cons of the checkered nature of language use in the Tanzanian Parliament. It focuses on language policy, language choice and the practicality of language use in parliamentary discourse. Right from the eve of independence, the medium of communication in the Tanzanian parliament has been Swahili although the option is between Swahili and English; Swahili has been and still is the preferred choice among parliamentarians. Nevertheless, we observe that language contact phenomena such as various forms of alternation between Swahili and English occur quite regularly in parliamentary debates and submissions. The paradox however is that various forms of documentation in parliament are drafted in English. From data extracted from a corpus drawn from issues of the Tanzanian parliamentary Hansard, the paper attempts an analysis of particular choices, the advantages and disadvantages of such choices and their impact on the Swahili language.

1. Introduction

Although language problems can generally be viewed as global, language problems in Africa tend to be precipitated by the legacy of colonialism, coupled with globalization and the very highly multilingual situation in most African states. As a result of these problems, various compromises come into play where language related issues, especially issues that have to do with education, are concerned.

Language is dynamic and therefore undergoes changes from time to time, and one factor that plays a major role in language change is language contact. There are many language contact phenomena that affect indigenous languages all over the world. In order to maintain some level of order and uniformity in various aspects of social, educational and administrative life, various agencies are set up by ruling governments 1 Josephine Dzahene-Quarshie is a Lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages, University of Ghana.


to put together and implement language policies. These policies usually involve national language policies, language in education policies and other special policies such as parliamentary language policies.

While many parliaments in Africa have adopted English only or French only policies in their parliaments, others have allowed the use of several indigenous languages in addition to a colonial language. Those who have adopted colonial languages as the sole acceptable or permissible media of communication have done so for convenience sake due to the highly multilingual situation in which they find themselves. Tanzania proves to be fundamentally unique where issues related to language are concerned. For instance, during the immediate post-colonial era when many African governments turned to the use of colonial languages as a solution to their language problems, the then new Tanzanian government chose to use Swahili as the sole medium of instruction for primary education and as the preferred medium of communication in parliament. Although it would have been expected that most parliamentarians would use English in parliamentary discourse, Swahili turned out to be the obvious choice as medium of communication. Nevertheless, although the preferred choice is Swahili, the paradox is that various forms of documentation in parliament are drafted in English, and often in practice some parliamentarians resort to code-switching between English and Swahili.

The paper attempts to interrogate the relationship between language policy, language choice and language practice as they pertain to Tanzanian parliamentary discourse. The paper goes further to analyze a corpus of parliamentary Hansard, paying particular attention to the persistent use of English in language contact phenomena, specifically code-switching and code-mixing, the role they play in language use and the positive and negative impact of these alternations on the Swahili language.

2. Post-Colonial Language Policies of Tanzania

Almost immediately after the declaration of Tanzanian independence in 1961, steps were taken by the then new Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) government to address the language situation in

29Dzahene-Quarshie

Tanzania. As has been addressed by various scholars, all declarations concerning language policies were made against the background of the spirit of Nyerere’s policy of Ujamaa ‘socialism’.2 The first language policy to be addressed was the national language policy; it was followed by the language in education policy, then policies concerning language use in various sectors of government such as parliament, the law courts and other para-government bodies.

Given the fact that Swahili was very instrumental to politicians during the struggle for independence, it is understandable that it would be made to continue to play a major role in the newly independent state. It was declared the National Language of Tanzania by President Nyerere in 1962, shortly after independence (Mulokozi 2002: 2; Topan 2008:258, Reuzaura 1993:32). This was because it was very widespread and its use as a national language tied in with the ideals of Ujamaa, a socialist, classless and egalitarian society united by a common language, Swahili. As a national language it was to be used at state and public functions. Subsequent to the declaration of Swahili as a national language was the adoption of a new language in education policy in 1967, the Education for Self-Reliance Policy under the Arusha Declaration. The policy declared the use of Swahili as the sole medium of instruction throughout primary education.

3.0 Background to the Use of Swahili in Parliament

From the British colonial rule up to the immediate post-independence era, English was the sole language used in the Tanzanian parliament for submissions and debates, until 1962 when President Nyerere made history by delivering his Public Day Speech in Swahili. This single act of the President became a basis for the use of Swahili in parliament because subsequently there was a gradual shift from the use of English to the use of Swahili for parliamentary discourse (Abdulaziz 1980: 155). Abdulaziz

2 Nyerere’s policy of Ujamaa was a socialist political ideology which sought to achieve a totally self-reliant classless and egalitarian society with a common language where all institutions are owned by the state. The policy of Ujamaa also consciously pursued national integration and sought to substitute national for tribal loyalties (Maxon 1994).


(1980) points out that the shift from English to Swahili accelerated when the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar was formed in 1964. This is because “many of the Zanzibari delegates either did not know English or already were used to debating in Swahili”. Their presence in parliament was instrumental in boosting the use of Swahili because the mainland delegates got the benefit of a large vocabulary relating to debating government matters (1980: 156). Harries (1969: 277), states that the use of Swahili in the Bunge ‘Parliament’ at the time was never challenged. The shift from English to Swahili culminated in the official declaration of the adoption of Swahili as the language of parliament on July 4th, 1967, by the Vice-President, Rashid Kawawa (Topan 2008: 258; Rwezaura 1993: 33). This directive concerned the use of Swahili in various sectors: as the language of communication in the discharge of the duties of all civil servants, for parliamentary discourse, government gazette and subsidiary legislation, among others.

Despite the takeover of Swahili from English, the permissible choice is still between Swahili and English. Indeed, while Swahili is used for parliamentary debates in general, English is reserved for special functions in parliament. Apart from the 1967 constitution which was originally drafted and published in Swahili, all other acts and Bills and laws are drafted and passed in English (Rwezaura 1993). It is therefore not surprising that although the language of parliament is Swahili, English still finds its way into parliamentary debates on a regular basis. Below is a typical example that illustrates this fact:

Wa-heshimiwa Wa-bunge, katika M-kutano ya CM-hounourable CM-Parliamentarians at CM-meeting of

Kumi na Mbili (uliopita), Bunge hili ten CONJ two (3SBJ-PST-REL-pass) Parliament DEM

li-li-piti-sha Mi-swada Mitatu i-fuata-yo:- 3SBJ-PST-pass-CAUS CM-bills three 3SBJ-follow-REL:-

The Appropriation Bill, 2008, Finance Bill, 2008 na The National CONJ

31Dzahene-Quarshie

Assembly Administration Bill, 2008.Mi-swada hiyo ni-li-i-fiki-sha kwa M-heshimiwa CM-BIL DEM 1SBJ-PST-OBJ-arrive-CAUS to CM-honourable

Rais ili i-pat-e kibali chake,President in order that 3SBJ- obtain-SCJ approval POSS

<28OC08:1>

“Honourable Parliamentarians, at the (past) twelfth meeting of this Parliament, this Parliament passed the following three Bills: the Appropriation Bill, 2008, Finance Bill, 2008 and National Assembly Administration Bill, 2008. These bills I presented to his Excellency the President for his approval.”

An attempt to draft Bills in Swahili in the sixties is said to have been discontinued due to difficulties such as lack of vocabulary for some precise legal and technical terminologies (Abdulaziz 1980:156-7). However, these documents are eventually translated into Swahili. For instance, statutes are still required to be in English with a Swahili version appended. Indeed, considerable efforts were made at expanding the Swahili language to enable it fulfill its new role, mainly by the setting up of a select committee. This committee developed a glossary of stereotype phrases of parliamentary jargon (Abdulaziz 1980).

4.0 Language Choice and Language Use in Parliament

Although language policy has to do with choice, language choice is distinct from language policy. Language choice refers to one’s choice to use a particular language. However, language choice is subject to language policy and therefore can be restricted by it.

In the case of education, language choice is subject to language policy. Language policy determines when Swahili is used and when English is used. Swahili is used as medium of instruction (MOI) at the primary level and English is used as MOI at the secondary and tertiary levels. In the case of the Tanzanian parliament, language choice under the language


policy of parliament is between Swahili and English; however, as pointed out in Section 2, there are further restrictions when it comes to the drafting of bills and acts of parliament. In this case there is no choice; English must be used. The current practice of exclusive use of Swahili for parliamentary debates is a voluntary choice by parliamentarians, but the status quo has been so much accepted that the use of English would be regarded as a marked choice.

It is clear that one of the factors that may affect language choice is language ‘code-capacity’ (Mkilifu 1972: 204).3 A particular language may be the choice but it may not be possible to employ it because its vocabulary does not have the necessary repertoire to support the particular subject area in question. In the case of the Tanzanian Parliament, language choice can be regarded as checkered in that although Swahili is used for debates and general discourse, English becomes the code choice for the drafting of Bills and encoding of Acts. Again, in the law courts English is the official medium of communication, especially in the high and supreme courts (Rwezaura 1993). Clearly, the main reason for drafting Bills in English and writing Acts first in English is the lack of code-capacity of Swahili, despite the numerous efforts at overcoming this challenge. One of the resulting paradoxes of this problem is the prescription that the national language should be used in Parliament and the use of English for bills and acts and as the language of law at the same time in the same parliament. As pointed out in Rwezaura (1993), these Bills are drafted in English but debated in Swahili. So although language choice is Swahili, in reality, language use is often checkered, with Swahili code-mixed intermittently with English as a result of lack of code-capacity and due to other factors that will be discussed later.

One of the conditions given for the use of Swahili or English in parliament initially was that mixing of the two languages was not allowed (Abdulaziz, 1980). However, a look at parliamentary Hansard spanning many years indicates that this has not been the case. The actual practice and the policy are at variance. Alternation between Swahili and English occurs quite often in parliamentary discourse. This is perhaps an indication that it may not be possible to use Swahili throughout one’s submission depending on

3 Mkilifi (1972) refers to the ability of a language to expand its vocabulary as ‘code-capacity’.

33Dzahene-Quarshie

the subject under discussion and on a speaker’s individual choices and proficiency in Swahili and English. In the following sections the paper will examine and analyze the various alternations that occur and discuss the factors that may have led to these alternations. The paper concludes that language alternation in parliamentary discourse is inevitable and goes further to establish that code-switching in this case functions as a tool for focus or emphasis, for economy (time saver) and due to problems of code-capacity.

5.0 Code-Mixing and Code-Switching

In the literature, while some scholars distinguish code-switching from code mixing, others use it as an umbrella term for two distinct forms of language alternation. It has been defined by Myers-Scotton as alternations of linguistic varieties within the same conversation (1993:1). Winford (2003) refers to code-switching as “cases where bilingual speakers alternate between codes within the same speech event, switch codes within a single turn or mix elements from two codes within the same utterance.” Bokamba (1988) on the other hand distinguishes between code-switching and code-mixing. He defines code-mixing as “the mixing of words, phrases and sentences from two distinct grammatical (sub) systems across sentence boundaries within the same speech event… code-mixing is the embedding of various linguistic units such as affixes (bound morphemes), words (unbound morphemes), phrases and clauses from a co-operative activity…” and code-switching as “cases where bilingual speakers alternate between codes within the same speech event, switch codes within a single turn or mix elements from two codes within the same utterance.” Ritchie and Bhatia (2006:336) refer to inter-sentential switches between two codes as code-switching and intra-sentential switches as code-mixing. For the purpose of this study all forms of switching of codes are considered as instances of code-switching (CS).

CS is not as arbitrary as it may seem (Matras 2009). Socio-pragmatic factors such as identity and social negotiation have been cited as motivation for code-switching (Myers-Scotton 1993a). The lack of “code-capacity” has also been cited as a motivation for CS (Mkilifi 1972; Matras 2009), although in certain situations, lack of code-capacity or appropriate


vocabulary is not deemed to constitute a legitimate motivation for CS since circumlocution could be used as a CS avoidance strategy (Collins2005: 252).

Various types of switching have been distinguished in the literature, inter-sentential and intra-sentential (Myers-Scotton: 1993a, 1993b, 2002, Matras: 2009, Winford 2003). Also, various approaches to the study of CS, socio-linguistic and structural, have been explored. The focus of this study is not so much the structure of CS as the reality of CS in a formal setting such as the Tanzanian parliament and its implications for the development of the Swahili language.

6.0 Data Analysis

The data for the study was extracted from a corpus of code-switched items in six issues of the Tanzanian Hansard dated between 2003 and 2011. The Hansard is a fully comprehensive verbatim transcript of every speech event in Parliament. It can therefore to a large extent be classified as naturally occurring data, despite the fact that some submissions by parliamentarians are not spontaneous (that is, they are read from previously written material).

All instances of CS in the submission of parliamentarians were extracted. A total of approximately 367 instances of 4 main categories of CS involving mainly intra-sentential CS were realized. In Table (1) below, the description of the various categories and the number of tokens are listed.

Table 1: Categories of Code-switching Category A: CS involving English verbs No. of tokensi.English verbs with Swahili inflectional affixes 30ii.English verbs with Swahili infinitive marker 28Total 58Category B: CS involving English nouns i. Single English nouns 45ii. English nouns with Swahili demonstratives 32

35Dzahene-Quarshie

iii. English nouns/noun phrase with Swahili connecter –a

21

iv. English nouns with Swahili possessives 19v. English nouns with Swahili noun class marker 4vi.Swahili adjectival prefix ki- with English noun 2Total 123Category C: CS involving Multiple switchesMultiple code-switching 44Total 44Category Di. Swahili label linked to its English counterpart by a conjunction

33

ii. Stereotype English labels and fixed expressions 74iii. English names of organisations and terms without reference to their Swahili counterparts

35

Total 142Grand total 367

The category (A) code-switched items are of two types: English verbs that occur with Swahili inflectional affixes as in examples (2) – (5) and English verbs that occur with the Swahili infinitive marker as in Examples (6) – (8) below. In all 58 instances of English verb CS the English verbs are used with Swahili inflectional affixes such as subject prefix, tense marker, relative marker and object marker, or with the infinitive prefix ku- as in examples (2) to (8) below.

2. a-ka-institute ‘he has instituted’<13JU11:108>1

3SUBJ-PST-

3. Huyu tu m- classify vipi? ‘how do we classify these?’<28OC08:55>DEM 2SUBJ- how?

4. i-me- sink ‘it has sunk’<13JU11:25> CM-PERF-


5. wa-na-o- perform ‘they who performed’<4NO03:8>3SUBJ-PRES-REL-

6. ku-wa-compensate ‘to compensate them’<28OC08:62>INF-3OBJ-

7. ku- jump the bail ‘ to jump the bail’<4NO03:28>INF-

8. ku-release funds ‘to release funds’<13JU11:68> INF-

In the data all code-switched items are invariably content morphemes of the embedded language (EL), English, particularly nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, while the grammatical morphemes, that is, function words and inflectional affixes, are employed from Swahili (i.e. the Matrix Language) except in the cases of phrasal, clausal or sentential switches. While it is clear that some of the English verbs employed may not have readily available equivalents in Swahili, it is also evident from the examples above that others do.

Category B CS items involve English nouns. The data indicates that the CS English nouns may occur with Swahili qualifiers, as in examples (12) – (20) or without such qualifiers, as in examples (9) – (11)). Swahili qualifiers that CS nouns typically occur with include the demonstrative, as in examples (12) – (15), the genitival connector -a as in examples (16) and (17), and the possessive as in examples (18) – (20).

9. fogging <10JU03:28>

10. forgery <10JU03:48>

11. incentives <28OC08:60>

12. hawa professionals ‘these professionals’<4NO03:42>

13. hii ceiling ‘this ceiling’<28OC08:52>

37Dzahene-Quarshie

14. hivi industry ‘these industries’<4NO03:42>

15. vile Braille ‘those Braille’<13JU11:13>

16. amendment ya Muswada ‘amendment of a Bill’<4NO03:43> of Bill

17. Application for Leave ya ku-weza

of INF-able ‘application for leave to enable’<10JU03:44>

18. Campaign Manager w-ake ‘his campaign manager <29D05:13> CM-POSS

19. concern y-etu ‘our concern’<10JU03:38> CM-POSS

20. economics z-ake ‘his economics’<28OC08:6> CM-POSS

The use of English nouns with Swahili qualifiers presupposes that speakers first of all must assign the CS noun to a Swahili noun class so as to use the corresponding concord for the qualifier. This is because in Swahili, every noun belongs to a grammatical class and as such every modifier that is used with it must agree in number and class. So far, judging from the data, almost invariably the concords that are used with the code-switched English nouns are concords of classes 9/N for singular and class 10/N for plural; these are classes to which the majority of borrowed nouns are assigned.4 In the data, a relatively small percentage of CS nouns are assigned class 5/Ji and 6/Ma concords as in example (21) in which the Swahili demonstrative that qualifies ‘contempt of parliament" corresponds to class 5. We note that in one instance, example (15), the concord of class 8/Vi which is the plural counterpart of class 7/Ki, the class that denotes non living objects, diminutives as well as physically challenged persons, has been used for the demonstrative vile ‘these’

4 The assignment of concord of classes 9 / 10 and classes 5/6 to CS items seems to be motivated by the fact that many nouns of classes 9, 10 and 5 have ø (zero) prefixes. This makes it convenient for most of the CS items to occur without class prefixes, except CS nouns like ma-contractor ‘contractors’ that are assigned to class 6.


which qualifies the English noun ‘Braille’. The use of class 8 concord for Braille seems to be motivated by this word’s relationship with vipofu ‘blind person’ which also belongs to class 8.

21. hili contempt of parliament "this contempt of parliament" DEM<10JU03:27>

Although most CS English nouns are usually assigned to the noun classes 9/10, there are four instances (examples (22) – (25) where the CS items are prefixed with the class 6 prefix and two instances where the prefix Ki- is prefixed to English nouns as complements (examples (26) and (27)).

22. ma-auditor <13JU11:99>

23. ma-butcher <4NO03:45>

24. ma-contractor <28OC08:56>

25. ma-Veterinary <4NO03:44>

26. ki- technicality ‘technicality’<4NO03:43>

27. ki-skills ‘skills’<13JU11:62>

Often code-switched items are single items within a speech event, but in our data the Category C examples display multiple switches within single speech events as in examples (28) – (31) below.

28. bila ku-i-pa time limit na bila ku-ji-commit without INF- 3SBJ- give CONJ without INF-REFL-maana <13JU11:86>meaning

‘Without giving the time limit and without committing ourselves to the meaning’

29. impression i-li-yo-kuwa created pamoja na taarifa <10JU03:41> CM-PST-REL-to be together with information ‘impression which was created together with the information’

30. Kaangali-e capacity na service zi-na-zo-tole-wa <13JU11:82>

39Dzahene-Quarshie

looking-SJC CONJ SM-PRES-REL-give-PASS ‘Looking at the capacity and service which are being given’

In Category D there is a peculiar alternation that takes place quite regularly. Here, the Swahili versions of technical terms and expressions are referred to by their Swahili equivalents and at the same time the conjunction ama ‘or’ or yaani ‘that is’ is used to introduce the English term as in examples (31) – (34) below. This, it seems is a strategy that is employed to ensure that there is no room for confusion or doubt about the Swahili label. It is observed also that often where a parliamentarian refers to a Swahili label for a special term without giving its English equivalent, the typist of the Hansard inserts the English term in brackets. This supports the impression that members may be more used to the English terms than to their Swahili counterparts.

31. Digrii ya Pili yaani Masters <4NO03:3> degree SM second that is

32. Hu-malizia w-enye hisa yaani shareholders.<4NO03:30> HAB- finish SM-having share that is

33. kazi za miradi ya ujenzi ama construction works Work of miradi CM construction or <28OC08:38>

34. Kipengele hiki cha matumizi ya tafsiri amaItem DEM of usage of translation or application of interpretation <28OC08:38>

Another characteristic of CS in parliamentary debates is the use of stereotype English expressions within various speech events. Sometimes these represent highly technical terms that may have no ready equivalents in Swahili. Such expressions occur in examples (35) – (37).

35. a vote of thanks <29thD05:31>

36. Chief Whip <29thD05:14>

37. consolidated effort <28OC08:20>


When a Bill or Act or an institution with an English name is being referred to, its English label is used rather than its Swahili equivalent. In addition, because Bills and Acts are passed in English it is easier to use the English label. The Swahili versions usually involve circumlocution. See Examples (38) – (41) below.

38. Tanzania Society for the Blind (TSB) <13JU11:13>

39. The Contractors Registration Act <28OC08:63>

40. Veterinary Bill <4NO03:38>

41. World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA) <28OC08:11>

7.0 Further Discussion

The data indicates so far that CS in parliament agrees with the general principles of CS. It is in line with Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame Model (MLF) (1993) where the code-switched English items are governed by Swahili grammatical and syntactic rules.

Typically, the intra-sentential switching constitutes classic CS (Myers-Scotton 2002:8) as Swahili is the source of the morpho-syntactic structure of the clause involved. We also observe, as indicated in (42) below, that often when members have made the effort to use the Swahili labels for terms, Bills, Acts etc., they subsequently revert to using the English labels. For instance, one minister first uses the Swahili rendition of Deep Sea Fishing and reiterates it by referring to the English label, without mentioning its Swahili rendition. Within the same speech event, this same minister, when referring to the term, again used the English label instead of the Swahili one.

42. yapo matatizo machache katika utendaji wa Muungano, likiwemo na eneo hili la utoaji wa leseni katika shughuli za Uuvi wa Bahari Kuu yaani Deep Sea Fishing. Mheshimiwa Spika, napenda kuliarifu Bunge lako Tukufu kwamba, shughuli ya Deep Sea Fishing siyo jambo la Muungano, linashughulikiwa pia na Serikali ya Mapinduzi ya Zanzibar. <04NO03: 26>

41Dzahene-Quarshie

‘there are a few problems with the action of the Union, one of which is the issuance of license for the Deep Sea Fishing business. Honourable Speaker, I would like to inform your revered Parliament that the Deep Sea Fishing business is not an issue of the Union only, it concerns the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar too.’

The general conformity of the code-switched items to Swahili morpho-syntax has very positive implications for Swahili, because this type of CS does not pose a threat of pidginization. Similarly, code-switched verbs are used with Swahili inflectional affixes and therefore do not pose a threat of interference from English morpho-syntax. As mentioned above, the main type of CS that occurs in the data is intra-sentential switching. The code-switched items are single items, phrases, clauses and whole sentences or utterances. However, single item intra-sentential switches occur more than any other types of code-switching. Where single items are switched they are more likely to be nouns than verbs.

Abdulaziz (1980:157) points out that the standing order on the use of English or Swahili in parliament was that of language purity. Members were supposed to use either of the two languages but not a mixture or shift unless they were quoting. However, it is evident that this ‘no mixture’ directive has not been adhered to over the years, simply because English is unavoidable under certain circumstances, so long as it is the language in which Acts, Bills and laws are passed. A careful look at the Hansard from 2003 to date indicates that although language choice for parliamentary discourse has remained Swahili over the years, in practice English is still part and parcel of parliamentary discourse. The standing Order on the passing of Acts, Bills and Law in English is therefore one of the anomalies that precipitate the use of English in parliament despite the fact that language choice is Swahili. Kjekshus (1974: 22) criticises this state of affairs in the Tanzanian Parliament. On the other hand, one can argue that since these Acts, Bills and Laws are eventually translated into Swahili, it does not constitute enough motivation for the referral to those Acts, Bills and Laws in English, as has almost consistently been the practice. Also, it is observed that the quest to use Swahili for the discussion of all manner of subjects from economics to science and technology has led to various innovative ways of expanding the Swahili language registers in order to


accommodate the various modern concepts, ideas and technologies that have English as their source (see Appendix D). For this purpose, in 1962, a select committee was appointed to look into the problem of using Swahili in parliament. Subsequently, a glossary of stereotype parliamentary jargons was developed (Abdulaziz 1980:156). Despite all these efforts, English still forms part of parliamentary discourse.

The president’s parliamentary address of 2010 exhibits the characteristic code-switching pattern, yet he does not code-switch any English verb at all. Instead, he makes do with the appropriate Swahili verbs. He uses the repetition strategy too, whereby one uses the Swahili label and introduces the English label with a conjunction. This indicates that no matter how formal the occasion in Parliament, CS is used without any visible constraints. CS can be seen in a positive light from the perspective of its general functions. One of the benefits of CS is the creation of a relaxed atmosphere for parliamentary proceedings. Another is that CS saves time by offering interlocutors the option to quickly fall on English where they are in doubt regarding the Swahili caption or do not know the Swahili equivalent. There is the probability that the single English items may eventually become assimilated into Swahili phonology and become full-fledged borrowed words, therefore expanding the Swahili language in line with Myers-Scotton’s (2002:41) argument that core borrowed items enter the recipient language gradually through CS.

Although there is every indication that the practice of CS in the Tanzanian Parliament does not pose a threat of pidginisation and interference, it is important to note that the constant practice of CS poses the danger of perpetuating the limited code-capacity of Swahili. If parliamentarians continue to resort to the use of English items and terminologies, this practice will inhibit the motivation for expanding the Swahili language through innovative means such as coinages, loan translation and semantic extension.

Furthermore, the freedom to code-switch does not motivate parliamentarians to improve their proficiency in Swahili. It does not complement the efforts at painstakingly translating English terminologies as well as Acts and Bills of Parliament into Swahili, for what is the point

43Dzahene-Quarshie

in doing so if such documents will not be used? Consequently, these attitudes deprive the Swahili language of the opportunity to develop and expand.

8..0 Conclusion

The paper has established that alternation between Swahili and English is part and parcel of Tanzanian parliamentary discourse. It has attempted to discuss the background to the use of the code-switched variety of Swahili in the Tanzanian Parliament, as well as describe the actual usage of CS in parliamentary discourse and point out the advantages and possible threats the continuous practice of CS can pose to Swahili. In conclusion, it is important to reiterate the point that, if efforts have been made by state agencies including parliamentary special committees to ensure that Acts and Bills as well as other technical and special terminologies are translated into Swahili for the benefit of all Tanzanians, then the use of the Swahili versions of English terms and expressions should be encouraged at all times. Although CS cannot be ruled out completely, it can be minimized to a large extent, since in many cases CS cannot be attributed to the lack of appropriate equivalents in Swahili. From the discussion, we have established that although CS in itself does not pose a threat to Swahili, it does have negative implications for the growth and expansion of the Swahili language.


References

Abdulaziz, Mohamed. 1980. The Ecology of Tanzanian National Policy. Language in Tanzania, ed. Polomé, Edgar C. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp 139-175.

Azuma, Shoji. 1997. Lexical Categories and Code-Switching: A Study of Japanese/English Code-Switching in Japan. The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese. 31(2): 1-24.

Bhatia, T. K. & William C. Ritchie. 2006. Bilingualism in the Global Media and Advertising. The Handbook of Bilingualism, ed. Tej K. Bhatia and William C. Ritchie. Cambridge :Cambridge Universities Press. pp. 513 – 546.

Bokamba, Eyamba. 1988. Code-mixing, language variation, and linguistic theory: Evidence from Bantu languages. Lingua 76:21-62.

Collins, Wesley M. 2005. Codeswitching Avoidance as a Strategy for Mam (Maya) Linguistic Revitalization. International Journal of American Linguistics 71(3): 239-276

Kjekshus, Helge. 1974. Parliament in a One-Party State-The Bunge of Tanzania, 1965-70. The Journal of Modern African Studies 12 (1): 19-43.

Lyndon, Harries. 1969. Language Policy in Tanzania- Disadvantages. Journal of the International African Institute 39 (3): 275-280.

Matras, Yaron. 2007. The Borrowability of Structural Categories. In Yaron Matras, Jeanette Sakel (eds.). Grammatical Borrowing in Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 31-74.

Maxon, Robert M. 1994. East Africa: An Introductory History. West Virginia University Press.

Mkilifi, M. H. A. 1972.Triglossia and Swahili-English Bilingualism in Tanzania. Language in Society 1 (2): 197-213.

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Mulokozi, M. M. 2002. Kiswahili as a National and International Language. Http://www.helsinki.fi/hum/aakk/documents/kiswahili.pdf, Asian and African Department University of Helsinki.

Myers-Scotton, Carol. 1993. Common and Uncommon Ground: Social and Structural Factors in Codeswitching. Language in Society 22 (4): 475-503.

Myers-Scotton, Carol. 1993b. Social Motivations for Codeswitching: Evidence from Africa. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.

Myers-Scotton, Carol. 2002. Contact Linguistics: Bilingual Encounters and Grammatical Outcomes. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.

Polomé, Edgar C. 1980. Language in Tanzania. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rubagumya C. M. 1991. Language Promotion for Education Purposes: The Example of Tanzania. Internal Review of Education 37 (1): 67-85.

Rwezaura, B. 1993. Constraining Factors to the Adoption of Kiswahili as a Language of Law in Tanzania. Journal of African Law 37 (1): 30-45.

Topan, Farouk. 2008. Tanzania: The Development of Swahili as a National and Official Language. .In Andrew Simpson (ed.). Language and National Identity. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp 252-266.

Winford, Donald. 2003. An Introduction to Contact Linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.


List of Abbreviations

CM- Class Marker

SM- Subject Marker

HAB- Habitual Tense

PAST- Past Tense

PRES- Present Tense

PERF- Perfect Tense

FUT- Future Tense

INF- Infinitive Marker

DEM- Demonstrative

COND- Conditional Tense

CONJ- Conjunction

SJC- Subjunctive

SBJ- Subject

OBJ- Object

POSS- Possessive Marker

COMPL- Complementizer

ADV- Adverb

ADJ- Adjective

1,2,3- 1st, 2nd and 3rd Persons

47Dzahene-Quarshie

PASS- Passive

CAUS- Causative

REL- Relative Marker

Appendix A

i. English verbs with Swahili inflectional affixes

1. aka-institute 'he has instituted'<13JU11:108>

2. alilidesign 'he designed it'<29thD05:18>

3. aliyeli-design 'he who designed it'<29thD05:18>

4. amebid 'he has bid'<28OC08:56>

5. ame-clear pale 'he has cleared there'<13JU11:6>

6. amesha-grade 'he has already graded'<28OC08:60>

7. anaye-tender 'he who is tendering'<28OC08:56>

8. Huyu tum- classify vipi? 'how do we classify these?'<28OC08:55>

9. ime-sink 'it has sunk'<13JU11:25>

10. ina- mitigate 'it mitigates'<10JU03:32>

11. ina-weaken mapendekezo 'it weakens development'<10JU03:32>

12. ita-react 'it will react'<28OC08:72>

13. nikaialert system 'I alert the system'<10JU03:45>

14. niki-organize 'if I organise'<29thD05:41>

15. tume-amend 'we have amended'<29thD05:44>


16. tume-double 'we have doubled'<13JU11:86>

17. tuna-institutionalize 'we are institutionalising'<29thD05:13>

18. tunao-design 'which we are designing'<28OC08:55>

19. tuna-summarise 'we are summarising'<13JU11:68>

20. tunayo disaster map ya nchi 'we have national disaster map'<10JU03:3>

21. tuta-focus on 'we shall focus on'<29thD05:21>

22. tutaya- summarise 'we shall summarise it'<13JU11:68>

23. u-delcare interest 'you declare interest'<13JU11:11>

24. ume-conspire 'you have conspired'<10JU03:38>

25. ume-solve 'you have solved'<28OC08:62>

26. una- involve 'you (are) involve'<4NO03:8>

27. wame-preserve 'they have preserved'<13JU11:81>

28. wana-control 'they control'<28OC08:54>

29. wanao-perform 'they who performed'<4NO03:8>

30. zime-shift kutoka 'it has shifted from'<13JU11:7>

ii. English verbs with Swahili infinitive marker

1. ku-wacompensate 'to compensate them'<28OC08:62>

2. ku- jump the bail 'to jump the bail'<4NO03:28>

3. ku-access 'to access'<13JU11:70>

49Dzahene-Quarshie

4. ku-addresss 'to address'<13JU11:105>

5. ku-allow 'to allow'<28OC08:62>

6. ku-amend 'to amend'<29thD05:44>

7. ku-challenge 'to challenge'<13JU11:107>

8. ku-compensate 'to compensate'<28OC08:56>

9. ku-concentrate 'to concentrate'<29thD05:12>

10. ku-create consultancy 'to create consultancy'<13JU11:6>

11. ku-declare 'to declare'<29thD05:19>

12. ku-design programme 'to design programme'<10JU03:8>

13. ku-draft 'to draft'<10JU03:37>

14. ku-empower middle class 'to empower middle class'<28OC08:62>

15. ku-finance 'to finance'<13JU11:72>

16. ku-fit 'to fit'<28OC08:55>

17. ku-identify 'to identify'<28OC08:20>

18. ku-import 'to import'<28OC08:53>

19. ku-invest 'to invest'<13JU11:79>

20. ku-liregularize 'to regularise it'<29thD05:44>

21. ku-takeoff 'to takeoff'<28OC08:62>

22. ku-protect 'to protect'<28OC08:12>


23. ku-prove 'to prove'<10JU03:31>

24. ku-reclaim 'to reclaim'<13JU11:100>

25. ku-refer 'to refer'<13JU11:89>

26. ku-relate 'to relate'<13JU11:86>

27. ku-release funds 'to release funds'<13JU11:67>

28. ku-release funds 'to release funds'<13JU11:68>

Appendix B

i. English nouns

1. agenda <10JU03:20> 24. incentives <28OC08:60>

2. alphabet <29thD05:5> 25. initiator <29thD05:13>

3. amendment <29thD05:44> 26. instalment <10JU03:15>

4. automatic <28OC08:5> 27. investment <29thD05:47>

5. available <4NO03:28> 28. Investment <16JUL10:21>

6. canteen <10JU03:21> 29. Megawatt <16JUL10:22>

7. Commonwealth <29thD05:38> 30. mitigated <10JU03:30>

8. CONFIDENTIAL <10JU03:24> 31. monopoly <29thD05:13>

9. consultant <13JU11:17> 32. morale <13JU11:10>

10. Corridor <10JU03:13> 33. negotiation<16JUL10:18>

11. cumulative <16JUL10:18> 34. nomination <29thD05:5>

12. development <29thD05:34> 35. photocopy <10JU03:24>

51Dzahene-Quarshie

13. document <10JU03:3> 36. pigeonholes <10JU03:21>

14. document <13JU11:106> 37. quotation <10JU03:34>

15. engineer <13JU11:19> 38. reckless <29thD05:12>

16. field <13JU11:12> 39. research <13JU11:12>

17. fogging <10JU03:28> 40. Secretariat <16JUL10:1>

18. forgery <10JU03:48> 41. policy<10JU03:3>

19. Gallery <10JU03:1> 42. squatters <10JU03:14>

20. Garnishing <28OC08:10> 43. support <13JU11:14>

21. Hemorrhoids <4NO03:28> 44. Treasury <10JU03:17>

22. homeboy <13JU11:4> 45. Uranium <16JUL10:21>

23. idle <28OC08:33>

ii. English nouns with Swahili demonstratives

1. gape hiyo 'this gape'<13JU11:70>

2. hapa procedure ‘here he procedure’t<10JU03:30>

3. hawa consultant 'these consultants'<28OC08:60>

4. hawa professionals 'these professionals'<4NO03:42>

5. hii ceiling 'this ceiling'<28OC08:52>

6. hii industry 'this industry'<28OC08:58>

7. hii paper 'this paper'<13JU11:106>

8. hii programme 'this programme'<13JU11:82>


9. hii statement 'this statement'<13JU11:25>

10. hii, is a giant country 'this is a great country'<16JUL10:21>

11. hili Contempt of parliament 'those contempt of parliament'<10JU03:27>

12. hivi industry 'these industries'<4NO03:42>

13. hiyo identification 'that identification'<13JU11:81>

14. hiyo mic 'that mic'<13JU11:93>

15. Hizi definitions 'these definitions'<28OC08:55>

16. hizi facilities 'these facilities'<4NO03:42>

17. hizi interventions 'these interventions'<13JU11:66>

18. hizo fields 'those fields'<13JU11:12>

19. hizo industrial materials 'those industrial materials'<13JU11:76>

20. ile draft 'that draft'<13JU11:8>

21. ile grade 'that grade'<13JU11:101>

22. ile master plan 'that master plan'<28OC08:14>

23. ile measurable kwenye 'that measurable on'<13JU11:98>

24. ile visibility study 'that visibility study'<28OC08:32>

25. lile gap 'that gap'<13JU11:74>

26. opportunity hiyo 'that opportunity'<13JU11:70>

27. point hiyo 'that point'<10JU03:33>

28. Private Sector hizi 'these private sector'<13JU11:68>

53Dzahene-Quarshie

29. vile Braille 'those Briale'<13JU11:13>

30. zile correspondence 'those correspondence'<10JU03:37>

31. zile interventions 'those interventions'<13JU11:74>

32. zile mindset 'those mindset'<13JU11:66>

iii. English nouns/noun phrase with Swahili connector a-

1. agenda ya kumsamehe 'agenda of forgiving him'<10JU03:19>

2. amendment ya Muswada 'amendment of a Bill'<4NO03:43>

3. Application for Leave ya kuweza 'application for leave of capability/ability'<10JU03:44>

4. career path ya Mtendaji 'career path of an actor'<28OC08:2>

5. Gallery ya Bunge 'parliamentary gallery'<10JU03:1>

6. Grid ya Taifa 'national grid'<16JUL10:22>

7. industry ya mifugo 'livestock industry'<4NO03:42>

8. issue ya reli 'issue of railway/ railway issue '<13JU11:93>

9. kuna registration ya hizi 'we have these registrations'<4NO03:42>

10. kwenye transformation ya kutoka 'on transformation from'<13JU11:61>

11. Liabilities ya Kampuni 'liabilities of a company'<4NO03:30>

12. Master Plan ya TANESCO 'master plan of TANESCO'<13JU11:61>

13. ndiyo function ya NDC 'its truly a function of NDC'<10JU03:13>

14. nilifahamu nature ya swali 'I understood the nature of the question'<10JU03:5>


15. note book ya Bwana 'note book of Mr.'<10JU03:21>

16. Order Paper ya leo 'order paper of today/today's order paper'<28OC08:72>

17. register ya Madaktari 'register of doctors'<4NO03:36>

18. registration ya vizazi 'registration of parents'<28OC08:20>

19. significance ya daraja 'significance of a bridge'<13JU11:3>

20. topography ya Wilaya 'topography of a district'<10JU03:8>

21. tukaiangalie status ya jambo 'we should look at the status of the issue'<13JU11:3>

iv. English nouns with Swahili possessives

1. Campaign Manager wake 'his campaign manager <29D05:13 >

2. concern yangu ‘ my concern’ <28OC08:28>

3. concern yetu 'our concern'<10JU03:38>

4. degree yangu 'my degree'<29thD05:40>

5. economics zake 'his economics'<28OC08:6>

6. economy yetu 'our economy'<28OC08:62>

7. figures zake 'his figures'<13JU11:94>

8. intention yake 'his intention'<10JU03:38>

9. junction yake 'his junction'<28OC08:60>

10. la size yake 'of his size'<29thD05:19>

11. line yetu 'our line'<29thD05:28>

55Dzahene-Quarshie

12. mastering studio yao 'mastering their studio'<16JUL10:28>

13. mindset zetu 'our mindset'<13JU11:66>

14. profession yao 'their profession'<29thD05:27>

15. programme yetu 'our programme'<13JU11:82>

16. repetition yake 'his repetition'<10JU03:32>

17. spirit yetu 'our spirit'<29thD05:15>

18. statements zetu 'our statements'<28OC08:50>

19. television yao 'their televiion'<29thD05:23>

v. English nouns with Swahili noun class marker

1. ma-auditor <13JU11:99>

2. ma-butcher <4NO03:45>

3. Macontractor <28OC08:56>

4. ma-Veterinary <4NO03:44>

vi. Swahili adjectival/adverbial prefix ki- with English nouns

1. ki-technicality 'technicality'<4NO03:43>

2. ki-skills 'skills'<13JU11:62>

Appendix CMultiple code-switching

1. ajili ya reward naye tu-na-m-wita contractor? <28OC08:28> because of POSS 1PL-PRES- CM-call

‘Because of the reward with him, we call him contractor?’


2. a-na-jua demand na Serikali i-na-sikia demand, this is

3SBJ-PRES-know CONJ government 3SBJ-PRES-hear very important <13JU11:86> ‘He knows the demand and the government hears the demand, this is very important’

3. bila ku-i-pa time limit na bila ku-ji-commit maana without INF-3SBJ-give CONJ without INF-REFL- meaning <13JU11:86>‘Without given the time limit and without committing ourselves to the meaning’

4. campaign finance. Lazima tu-we na ethics za campaign finance <29thD05:6> Must 1PL-SJC be with CM

‘Campaign finance. We must have ethics of campaign finance’

5. check and balance katika Parliament <29thD05:49> in

‘Check and balance in parliament’

6. don’t worry about it, si-semi kwamba wa-fanye NEG-say COMPL CM-SJC harrassing <29thD05:14>

‘don’t worry about it, I am not saying that they should harass’

7. hapa kwamba the intentional meaning ya kitu fulani

here COMPL of something

and in the interpretation meaning ya Yule <10JU03:37> of DEM

‘Here that the intentional meaning of something and in the interpretation meaning of that person’

8. hawa professionals w-ote, veterinarians <4NO03:42> DEM CM-all, ‘all these professionals are veterinarians’

57Dzahene-Quarshie

9. impression i-li-yo-kuwa created hapa ni kama ku-li-kuwa na 3SUBJ-PST-REL-to be here is as if INF-PST-to be CONJ some conspiracy <10JU03:41>

‘Impression which was created here is as if there was some conspiracy’

10. impression i-li-yo-kuwa created pamoja na taarifa <10JU03:41> Impression CM-PST-REL-to be together with information’ ‘impression which was created together with the information’

11. Kaangali-e capacity na service zi-na-zo-tole-wa <13JU11:82> looking-SJC CONJ SM-PRES-REL-give-PASS ‘Looking at the capacity and service which are being given’

12. kama za Singapore au Malaysia ambao leo ni mini tigers lakini Singapore Like of CONJ REL today is CONJ

growth yao <13JU11:72> POSS

‘like that of Singapore or Malaysia which are mini tigers today but Singapore their growth’

13. kila kitu ni zero, kila kitu ni zero <13JU11:96> Every thing is , everything is ‘everything is zero, everything is zero’

14. ku-it-wa ni Architect, mtu wa pili ni Quantity Surveyor,

INF-call-PASS are , person SM second is m-tu wa tatu ni Structure Engineer<28OC08:59> CM-person SM three is ‘Those to be called are Architect, second person is Quantity Surveyor, the third person is Structure Engineer’

15. kuleta Application ya Chamber Summons kwa njia ya Chamber SummonsINF-bring of by way of <10JU03:45>‘To bring Application of Chamber Summons by way of Chamber Summons’


16. Ku-li-kuwa na conspiracy au ujanja ujanja wowote na ujanjato -PST-to be CONJ or deception (RED) any sort CONJ deception huu source lazima <10JU03:41>DEM must‘There was conspiracy or any sort of deception and the source of this deception must’

17. Kuna claim kwamba in fact hizo pesa <10JU03:41>There is COMPL DEM money ‘There is a claim that in fact that money’

18. kuna gape kuna mismatch <13JU11:74>there is there is ‘there is a gap, there is a mismatch’

19. kuna mashapo reserve ya pounds milioni 90 na kwa pounds milioni there is sediments of pounds million 90 CONJ of million <16JUL10:22> ‘There are reserve sediments of 90 million pounds and by one million pounds’

20. kuna registration ya hizi facilities kwa <4NO03:42> there is CM DEM of

‘there is registration of these facilities for’

21. kutoka point A kwenda point B ha-li-wezekani <13JU11:64> from INF-go NEG-PST-possible

‘From point A to point B, it is not possible’

22. kwa hiyo i-guarantee ku-rejesha agenda amba-yo <10JU03:38> therefore, SUBJ- INF-go back amba-REL ‘Therefore, I guarantee to go back to the agenda which’

23. Kwa hiyo, kama voucher u-na-zi-ona, entry zi-me-kuwa therefore, if 2-SUJ-PRES-OBJ-see SUBJ-PERF- be nzuri, <16JUL10:9>

nice ‘Therefore, if you see the vouchers, the entry is nice’

59Dzahene-Quarshie

24. kwamba curriculum na syllabus kwa shule za private na za public that CONJ of school of CONJ CM

u-ki-ondoa zile za international school zi-na-fanana 2SBJ-COND-remove DEM of CM- PRES-resemble<28OC08:28> ‘that the curriculum and the syllabus of the private schools and the public schools, if you should remove that of international schools’

25. ruhusa ya application ya leave <10JU03:44> permission of of ‘permission of application for leave’

26. Labda bubble gum economy au i-ta-kuwa house of cats. <29thD05:6> perhaps or SBJ-FUT- to be

‘perhaps bubble gum economy or it will be house of cats’

27. lakini at the end of the day takwimu zi-me-shift kutoka <13JU11:7> but statistics SUB-PERF- from ‘but at the end of the day, the statistics have shifted from’

28. lakini sisi actually Ki-sheria is not even binding yale <10JU03:46> but we ADJ-law DEM ‘but for us actually the law is not binding those’

29. m-moja na Technicians wa wa-tano na craftsmen <13JU11:61>CM-one CONJ CM CM-five CONJ‘one person and five technicians and craftsmen’

30. ni music na film katika <16JUL10:28> it is CONJ in ‘it is music and film in’

31. Ni-na-quote hapa I want to be concrete <13JU11:5> 1SBJ-PRES – here

‘I am quoting here I want to be concrete’

32. pale pana politics na economics zake zi-na-ji-tokeza <28OC08:6> DEM there is CONJ POSS CM-PRES-REFL-emerge ‘the politics and economics of that place is becoming prominent’


33. pingamizi la muda (Temporary Injunction), wa-ka-sema temporary Injunction of period 3SBJ-PST-say

prohibition injunction. Hayo <10JU03:44> DEM

‘Temporary injuction, they said temporary prohibition injunction. Those’

34. Si-na gold wala silver, ni mimi <10JU03:48> NEG- have neither it is me ‘I don’t have gold neither gold, it is me’

35. suala la management of time hapa ni paramount, ha-kuna <13JU11:82> question of here is NEG-there is ‘the issue of management of time here is paramount, there is no’

36. technicality ni-li-soma kwenye amendment ya <4NO03:43> 1SBJ-PST-read in the of ‘technically, I read in the amendment of’

37. u-na-toa document for reference, lazima i-w-e signed<13JU11:108> 2SBJ-PRES-give must 3SBJ-be-SJC ‘you are giving the document for reference, it is a must it be signed’

38. utapeli katika Industry nzima ya Construction <28OC08:55> swindling in ADJ-whole of ‘Swindling in the whole construction industry’

39. vi-wili vya specific pamoja na realistic <13JU11:98> CM-two of together with ‘two of the specific together with the realistic’

40. Wa-ka-sema fedha nyingi zipo za climate change na environment CM-PST-say money lot there is CM CONJ <13JU11:82> ‘they said there is a lot of money in climate change and environment’

41. Wa-me-preserve marine products zao <13JU11:82> CM-PERF- POSS ‘they have preserved their marine products’

61Dzahene-Quarshie

42. X-Ray na Ultra Sound <16JUL10:24> CONJ ‘X-Ray and Ultra Sound’

43. yaani order ya prohibition kukataz-wa <10JU03:44> that is of INF-refuse -PASS ‘that is order of prohibition is been cancelled’

44. z-ote a hundred percent pamoja na Tsunami <13JU11:82> CM-all together CONJ ‘all a hundred percent together with Tsunami’

Appendix DSwahili label linked to its English counterpart by a conjunction

1. Digrii ya Pili yaani Masters <4NO03:3> degree CM second that is

2. Hu-malizia w-enye hisa yaani shareholders.<4NO03:30> HAB- finish SM-having share that is

3. kazi za miradi ya ujenzi ama construction works Work of miradi CM construction or construction works <28OC08:38>

4. kazi za Wa-kandarasi wa Umeme ama Electrical Works Work of CM-contract CM electricity or Contractors <28OC08:39>

5. ki-kandarasi ama Issuance of Stop Order <28OC08:39>ADJ- contract or

6. Kipengele hiki cha matumizi ya tafsiri ama Item DEM of usage CM translation or application of interpretation <28OC08:38>

7. kipindi cha uangalizi wa mradi ama defect liability period Period of supervision CM intention or <28OC08:38>


8. Ku- jenga kiwango cha uhimilivu yaani perseverance INF-construct level of endurance that is <16JUL10:6>

9. Ku- ondoa utata ama clarity of progress <28OC08:40>INF- remove complexity or

10. Ku-ongeza muda ama renewal <28OC08:40>

INF-add time or

11. Ku-pandisha kwa chupa ama kwa Kiingereza artificial insemination INF-grow by bottle or in English

<16JUL10:17

12. Ku- toa wito ama summons <28OC08:41> INF- give call or

13. Ku-toa zuio ama Stop Orders <28OC08:42>

INF-give restrain or

14. Ku-toroka au ku-jump the bail <4NO03:28>

INF -run or INF-

15. madai ya sheria yaani Statutory Creditors <4NO03:30> claims CM law that is

16. Madawa ku-ulia wadudu au food drugs, cosmetic <4NO03:45> drugs INF-kill insects or

17. Mamlaka ya Rufaa ama Appeal Authority <28OC08:41> Authority CM appeal or

18. maombi ya mdomo ya ruhusa yaani Application for Leave to Request CM mouth of permission that is

Appeal <10JU03:45>

63Dzahene-Quarshie

19. marekebisho ya jedwali la Sheria ama Amendment of Schedule amendment CM schedule CM law or

<28OC08:42>

20. M-kandarasi ama Contractor <28OC08:38>

CM- contract or

21. sisi w-enye matatizo w-enyewe sisi ndiyo jawabu we CM-having problem CM-ourselves we indeed solution yaani that is we are source of the problem, we are also part of the solution <16JUL10:7

22. SMARTER maana yake ni Specific Measurable, Attainable SMARTER meaning POSS is Realistic Time Bound Evaluatable "na" Rewarded <13JU11:98

"and"

23. Ugonjwa wa kisaikolojia au psychiatric illness <4NO03:10> disease CM psychology or

24. ujira ama reward <28OC08:67>wages or

25. ukaguzi wa thamani ya fedha yaani Value for Money Audit audit CM value CM money that is <16JUL10:9>

26. ulipaji wa dhima yaani Liabilities <4NO03:30> payment CM debt that is

27. utaalam wa kihandisi ama structural design <28OC08:68> expertise CM construction or

28. uvuvi wa Bahari Kuu yaani Deep Sea Fishing <4NO03:26> Fishing CM sea main that is

29. vi-na- it-wa satelite cities au towns <28OC08:57> SUBJ-PRES- call-PASS or


30. Wa-dai w-enye dhamana yaani Secured Creditors <4NO03:30> CM- credit SM-having surety that is

31. Wa-kandarasi au Contractors <28OC08:56> CM-contract or

32. Wa-kandarasi Maalum ama Specialist Contractors<28OC08:39> CM-contract special or

33. ya kazi za ziada yaani overtime <4NO03:3> of work CM excess that is

ii . Stereotype English labels and fixed expressions

1. a vote of thanks <29thD05:31>

2. Application for Leave <10JU03:43>

3. Assembling Plants<13JU11:39>

4. Attorney General <10JU03:33>

5. Building Control Bill <28OC08:49>

6. campaign finance <29thD05:6>

7. Chief Whip <29thD05:14>

8. consolidated effort <28OC08:20>

9. construction works <28OC08:47>

10. Controller and Auditor General <13JU11:5>

11. data base <28OC08:18>

12. Deep Sea Fishing <4NO03:26>

13. double road <28OC08:62>

65Dzahene-Quarshie

14. Egalitarian Society <13JU11:70>

15. exchange rate <13JU11:75>

16. Ferrous Sulphate <4NO03:11>

17. final version <10JU03:23>

18. financial intermediation <13JU11:48>

19. Foreign Affairs <29thD05:27>

20. Fund for Reconstruction and Reconciliation <4NO03:7>

21. gene concentration<13JU11:70>

22. Guest House <10JU03:37>

23. human capital development <13JU11:109>

24. in-service training <4NO03:40>

25. institutional frame work <13JU11:79>

26. Iron Deficiency <4NO03:10>

27. joint venture <28OC08:62>

28. long liner <28OC08:8>

29. manufacturing sector <16JUL10:17>

30. medical board <13JU11:20>

31. Medicine Board <4NO03:38>

32. Memorandum of Appeal <10JU03:45>

33. Merchant Shipping <4NO03:33>


34. Middle School <10JU03:34>

35. mitigation points <10JU03:35>

36. open space <29thD05:37>

37. order in the House <29thD05:39>

38. National Stadium <29thD05:17>

39. natural justice <10JU03:32>

40. Nutritional Iron Deficiency <4NO03:11>

41. Order Paper <10JU03:1>

42. Order Paper <28OC08:72>

43. Order Paper <4NO03:33>

44. Original in blue ink <10JU03:24>

45. Overtime Allowance <4NO03:3>

46. procedural motion <4NO03:33>

47. professional misconduct<4NO03:38+E45>

48. properly tested <29thD05:47>

49. public document <28OC08:72>

50. Public Hearing <28OC08:47>

51. quasi judicial <10JU03:32>

52. rather than <29thD05:47>

53. Red Blood Cells <4NO03:11>

67Dzahene-Quarshie

54. Regional Manager <28OC08:58>

55. restricted area. <13JU11:12>

56. Sergeant At Arms <29thD05:15>

57. Sergeant At Arms <29thD05:49>

58. sitting allowance <13JU11:17>

59. Sitting Allowance <29thD05:45>

60. Speaker’s gallery <29thD05:6>

61. special development initiative <10JU03:13>

62. special request <10JU03:29>

63. specific intervention <13JU11:48>

64. sub-standard <28OC08:62>

65. Supplementary Budget <10JU03:6>

66. transboundary water <13JU11:20>

67. under the carpet <29thD05:28>

68. value for money <28OC08:51>

69. value for money audit <16JUL10:9>

70. vessel monitoring system <28OC08:8>

71. village assembly <28OC08:21>

72. vote of thanks <29thD05:2>

73. Wheel Chair <13JU11:13>

74. World Economic Recession <16JUL10:5>


iii. English names of organisations and terms without reference to their Swahili counterparts

1. African Union <29thD05:27>

2. Air Tanzania <10JU03:38>

3. Beyond Tomorrow <16JUL10:23>

4. Civic United Front (CUF) <4NO03:6>

5. Deep Sea Fishing Authority <28OC08:6>

6. Ferrous Sulphate <4NO03:10>

7. Gulmeti Game Reserve <28OC08:23>

8. Identification Bureau (IB) <10JU03:31>

9. Internal Ruminant Academy<13JU11:26>

10. International Civil Aviation Organisation-ICAO <28OC08:13>

11. International Growth Centre (IGC) <13JU11:42>

12. Livingstone Mountains <29thD05:23>

13. Millennium Development Goals <13JU11:99>

14. Mtwara Development Corridor <10JU03:12>

15. Mwanza Engineering <4NO03:30>

16. National Construction Council (NCC) <28OC08:50>

17. National Construction Council <13JU11:8>

18. Ocean Road <10JU03:32>

19. Pamba Engineering <4NO03:29>

69Dzahene-Quarshie

20. Pan-African Youth Movement <29thD05:41>

21. Private Agricultural Sector Support PASS <13JU11:23>

22. Public Procurement Regulatory Authority <28OC08:67>

23. Sea Sense, Root and Shoots, Dar es Salaam Animal Haven(DAH) <28OC08:11>

24. Southern Africa Transport,Communication and Meteorology Commission SATCC <10JU03:12>

25. Tanzania Animal Protection Organisation(TAPO) <28OC08:11>

26. Tanzania Investment Centre <29thD05:47>

27. Tanzania society for animal Welfare (TAWESO) <28OC08:11>

28. Tanzania Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (TSPCA) <28OC08:11>

29. Tanzania Society for the Blind (TSB) <13JU11:13>

30. The Contractors Registration Act <28OC08:63>

31. United Democratic Party <29thD05:47>

32. Veterinary Act <4NO03:34>

33. Veterinary Bill <4NO03:38>

34. Veterinary Surgeons Ordinance Cap <4NO03:34>

35. World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA) <28OC08:11>


Volume 22 (2011)

71Akande, Okanlawon and Akinwale

Attitudes of Educated Yoruba Bilinguals to CodeswitchingA.T. Akande, O.B. Okanlawon and O.T. Akinwale1

AbstractThis paper investigates the attitudes of some university and tertiary institution students to codeswitching. Respondents were drawn from four tertiary institutions located in the Southwestern part of Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was administered to the informants whose ages ranged between sixteen and fifty-five years. The social variables tested included qualifications/pro-grammes and schools. The study revealed that the overall attitude of Nigerian students to codeswitching is largely positive. It also showed, among other things, that students on degree programmes are more positively inclined to use codeswitching than those on other programmes.

Key words: Codeswitching, attitudes, multilingual setting, bilin-guals and Nigerian languages

1.0 Introduction

This paper investigates the attitudes of some educated Nigerians to codeswitching. Nigeria is a multilingual country where there are more than 400 languages (Bamgbose 1971; Heine and Nurse 2000) with well over 200 ethnic groups. Some of these languages have dialects. For example, Yoruba which is spoken in the southwestern part of the country has more than seven dialects. Of the indigenous languages in Nigeria, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo, each of which is spoken natively by over 20 million people (Central Intelligence Agency 2011), are considered as major languages. Each major language corresponds to a major ethnic group in the country. The minor languages have few native speakers and they have a limited geographical spread (see Emenanjo 1995). Another language which is spoken widely by Nigerians irrespective of diverse ethnic affinities or levels of education is Nigerian Pidgin English. This is 1 A.T. Akande is a Senior Lecturer, Bidemi Okanlawon an Associate Professor and O.T. Akinwale a member of Staff in the

Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Akande is currently Humboldt Fellow in the Department of English, Albert-Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Germany.


a language that does not belong to any particular region and is spoken by people from different walks of life. In addition to this linguistic scenario, there is English: a language which serves in different capacities as the official language and a medium of instruction in Nigerian schools. In a multilingual setting like Nigeria, people are bound to codeswitch from one language to another to perform certain sociolinguistic functions. Although scholars have carried out studies on codeswitching from different perspectives in Nigeria (Akande 2010; Akere 1980; Amuda 1994; Goke-Pariola 1983; Ogunpitan 2007), only a few studies have been done on the attitudes of Nigerians to codeswitching (Akere 1982; Amuda 1989). It is to this scanty scholarship that the present work intends to contribute. In pursuing this goal, the present study seeks to answer the following questions:

a. What is the general attitude of educated Nigerians to codeswitching?

b. Is there a significant difference among the schools in their attitudes to codeswitching?

c. Can academic qualifications/programmes cause a significant difference in the attitudes of Nigerian tertiary institution

students to codes witching?

Although the title of this paper suggests that the subjects are all Yoruba bilinguals, we would like to state that 89% of the informants are Yoruba while 11% are informants from other ethnic groups (Table 2). However, this study is not interested in ethnic related differences in the subjects’ attitude to code switching, and therefore the high representation of Yoruba bilinguals does not detract us from our main focus.

2.0 Codeswitching: A Brief Overview

Codeswitching, the alternate use of two or more languages in the same utterance, conversation or writing has been extensively researched by notable scholars (e.g., DeBose 1992; Myers-Scotton 1993, 2002, 2006; Lipski 1982). Codeswitching (henceforth CS) could be seen as an essential feature of ‘true’ or ‘balanced’ bilinguals (Myers-Scotton 1988; Poplack 1980). It is thus a natural occurrence in a bilingual or multilingual setting


as people tend to shift from one code to the other depending on several social factors, including the need to accommodate or exclude other people in a discourse and to express a group’s identity (Auer 2005; Gumperz 1982; Tabouret-Keller 1998). Gumperz (1982: 61) claimed that speakers “build on their own and their audience’s abstract understanding of situational norms to communicate metaphoric information about how they intend their words to be understood.” Amuda (1994) argues that CS can be used to encode social meanings while other scholars believe that the motivation for the use of CS is mainly stylistic (Akere 1980; Edwards 1985). Goke-Pariola’s (1983) study seeks to answer four major questions regarding (1) the frequency of CS in the speech of Yoruba-English bilinguals, (2) the word classes that are likely to occur in the embedded language (i.e. English), (3) whether one of the languages involved in the CS consistently serves as the matrix language, and (4) whether what is observed in their speech is actually language mixing or linguistic borrowing. The study shows that instances of codemixing could involve nominal groups, verbal groups, adjectival groups or adverbial groups and they can occur at the subject, complement or adjunct position. It is noted that there is a high degree of codemixing in the speech of Yoruba-English bilinguals.

Akande (2010) carried out his research on the patterns of CS between Standard English and Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE). He used as his subjects thirty male university graduates selected from three universities in Nigeria. Although the focus of the study was the grammar of the verb phrase, it revealed that in spontaneous conversations, university graduates in Nigeria switch freely from English to NPE and sometimes to their indigenous languages, even in formal settings. The study also indicated that the use of NPE and indigenous languages are indexical of the subjects’ identities. Babalola and Taiwo (2009) presented a report on the use of CS in the music of five Nigerian hip hop artists. They noted that one of the ways through which these artists identify with their roots is by codeswitching to either their mother tongue or to Pidgin English. The study found out that CS to Yoruba is more prominent than CS to other languages. They concluded by claiming that by engaging in CS, Nigerian hip hop artists “are establishing unique identities for themselves and their music” (Babalola and Taiwo 2009: 21).


Myers-Scotton (1993) proposed a theoretical framework for the analysis of codeswitching in her book, Social Motivations for Codeswitching. She proposed the Markedness Model which describes language users as rational beings who from time to time choose a particular language that marks their rights and obligations as against the rights and obligations of other speakers. This means that in any multilingual setting, each language is connected with certain social roles and it is the understanding of these roles that determines what language a speaker has to choose. The languages involved in CS may be negotiated or may modulate with the topic of conversation. Myers-Scotton (2006) emphasized this point in her work. When two or more languages coexist, the majority language is normally considered more prestigious— a language associated with political, cultural and economic power— while the minority language is seen as less prestigious, lacking in power and geographical spread. Concerning the position of the minority language, Hickey (2000) remarked that a significant increase in CS is indicative of the fact that a minority language is coming under pressure from a majority language. Li (2000) remarked that in a bilingual or multilingual setting, one language provides the grammatical framework, with the other providing certain items to fit into the framework.

3.0 Studies on Language Attitudes

As hinted above, the focus of this paper is the attitudes of some higher institution students in Nigeria towards CS. Language attitudes refer to the feelings and perceptions of people towards their own language or towards a language that does not belong to them (Crystal 1992). According to Baker (1992: 10), attitude is “a hypothetical construct used to explain the direction and persistence of human behaviour.” However, since human beings do change their views and perceptions, language attitudes are dynamic and subject to change based on several factors (Giles and Powesland 1975; Ryan and Giles 1982). Gardner (1985) claims that the kind of motive one has for learning a particular language may affect the attitude one may have towards it. Edwards (1982) opines that language attitudes can be cognitive, affective or behavioural. Language attitudes are said to be cognitive in that they consist in beliefs about the world, affective because they deal with feelings and opinions of people about


a particular language and behavioural in that they could compel people to act in certain ways (Garrett, Coupland, and Williams 2003: 3). As an example, a person who applies for a job which requires that s/he speaks and understands French may be forced not only to learn French but to have a positive attitude toward it, especially if the job is lucrative.

In his study, Akere (1982) examined attitudes towards dialect selection in Ikorodu, a prominent Yoruba community in Lagos State. Using responses to the questionnaire he administered on his respondents and also the tape-recorded interviews, he used the informants’ self-reports and their opinions on their language use to determine their attitudes to their language as well as the dialects of the language. Akere (1982) concluded as follows:

The conclusion to be drawn from this study is that language attitudes, especially in multilingual and/or bidialectal situations in many indigenous African communities, are very much tied up with the acceptable norms of behavior in the sociocultural setting. Loyalty to the mother tongue is a function of the degree of identification with the folk culture. But where socioeconomic considerations and political aspirations warrant significantly modifying one’s life style and behavioral patterns, such modifications are inevitably carried over to the linguistic behavior of members of the community, and their attitudes towards the linguistic codes in use will be a reflection of their positive or negative evaluation of the relevant components of the sociocultural setting (Akere, 1982: 359).

Akande and Salami (2010) also investigated the pattern of the use and attitudes of some university students in Nigeria to Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE). The subjects whose responses were used were 100 students selected through a purposive random sampling from University of Lagos (UNILAG) and University of Benin (UNIBEN), which are located in culturally diverse cities. The instrument used was mainly a questionnaire which contained 15 items focusing on the use, the attitudes and the perceptions of the students to Nigerian Pidgin English. The results indicated that the use of NPE is more common among UNIBEN students than among UNILAG students. The study’s conclusion is in a way similar to Akere’s claim above, that speakers tend to be loyal and have positive


attitudes to a language they consider their mother tongue. Akande and Salami (2010: 81) conclude:

We can thus say that NPE has more vitality among UNIBEN students than among UNILAG students. This may have resulted from the fact that UNIBEN is situated in Benin, and NPE in Benin has grown from a mere contact language to a native language for many people

The paper further showed that there is a gradual acceptance of NPE among undergraduate students as they have some positive attitudes towards its use.

4.0 Methodology

The informants who provided data for this study were mainly College of Education and University students whose ages ranged between sixteen and fifty five. The majority of these subjects are Yoruba and this is because all the four settings involved in the research are in the south-western part of Nigeria where Yoruba is predominantly spoken. While the majority of the subjects are bilingual in the native language and English, some of them could also speak Nigerian Pidgin English and/or another major language apart from their native language. The four schools where the questionnaires were administered are listed below (Table 1). Out of 300 questionnaires given to participants, 245 were returned. These schools are different in one major respect. While all participants in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife and University of Ado Ekiti (UNAD), Ado Ekiti are students pursuing degrees, in Adeyemi College of Education (ACE), Ondo, and Lagos State College of Education (LASCE), Noforija, Epe, some students are studying for degrees while others are pursuing NCE diplomas. While 84.9% degree students participated in the study, only 15.1% NCE students did. The school where the highest number of informants participated is OAU and this might be connected to the fact that all the three researchers for this work are based in this university.


Table 1: Distribution of informants by Schools

Schools Frequency % Programme Frequency %ACE 69 28.2

DEGREE 208 84.9

OAU 125 51.0LASCE 20 8.2

NCE 37 15.1

UNAD 31 12.7Total 245 100

Total 245 100

The instrument used in the collection of data was a questionnaire comprising three sections: Sections A, B and C. Section A comprises information on the biodata of the subjects. The subjects were required to provide information about their nationality, mother tongue, school, age group as well as gender. Section B consists of 20 items which are related to the attitudes of the informants to CS. Section C is made up of eight items which further probe why people codeswitch, where they codeswitch and how often they codeswitch. Table 2 shows the distribution of the informants who participated in the study.

Table 2: Distribution of Subjects by Mother Tongue

Mother Tongue No of informantYoruba 218 (89.0%)Igbo 16 (6.5%)Hausa 4 (1.6%)Others 7 (2.9%)Total 245


Out of the 245 respondents, 89% were Yoruba, 6.5% were Igbo while Hausa accounted for 1.6%. The rest, who were not from any of these three major languages, comprised 2.9%. That the Yoruba respondents constituted almost 90% of the overall respondents is expected as the four research settings are all in the south-western part of Nigeria which is populated mainly by the Yoruba.

5.0 Data Analysis and Discussions

Perhaps it is better to start by examining the languages our informants indicated that they codeswitched to before we examine their attitudes to codeswitching. The languages that the subjects codeswitched to are seven as indicated below (Table 3). The instances of CS are mainly from English to Yoruba or vice-versa, with 35.8% and 34.1% recorded for Yoruba and English respectively. These high percentages for English and Yoruba can be connected with the fact that most of the respondents are Yoruba/English bilinguals (Table 2).

Table 3: Languages to which Respondents Codeswitch

Language Frequency PercentageYoruba 207 35.8%English 197 34.1%Pidgin English 70 12.1%Igbo 39 6.8%Hausa 34 5.9%French 19 3.3%Arabic 11 1.9%Total 577 100

CS to Pidgin English (PE) constitutes 12.1% . That PE is higher in percentage than Igbo, Hausa and other languages apart from English and Yoruba is understandable. PE is not region-bound and can be spoken by any of the subjects. So, those subjects who do not speak other languages apart from English can switch to it. Least in this table is Arabic, a


language associated with Islam, which people do not often codeswitch to as regularly as they would to other languages like Yoruba, PE or Hausa. The majority of the subjects, who are Christians, cannot switch to Arabic, and there are even some Muslims who do not speak Arabic fluently and may not switch to it. Hence, its lowest percentage.

In Table 4, we present the item-by-item responses of the subjects to the questionnaire we administered to survey their attitudes to codeswitching.

Table 4: Attitudes of the Respondents to CSSt

rong

ly D

is-

agre

e

Dis

agre

e

Agr

ee

Stro

ngly

Agr

ee

No

Res

pons

e

Attitude

Codeswitching is inevitable among bilingual Nigerian speak-ers.

22

(9.1%)

23

(9.5%)

108

(44.8%)

88

(36.5%)4

Instances of codeswitching should be cor-rected.

19 (7.9%) 87 (36.3%)

90 (37.5%)

44

(18.3%)5

Codeswitching is a source of irritation in any interaction.

35 (14.6%)

57

(23.8%)101 (42.3%)

46 (19.2%)

6

It is acceptable to initiate interaction with codeswitching.

23 (9.8%) 80

(34.2%)

107 (45.7%)

24 (10.3%)

11


It is acceptable to codeswitch when people around you do so.

24 (10.0%)

71 (29.7%)

122 (51.1%)

2 2 (9.2%)

6

Codeswitching is prevalent among educated Nigerians.

21 (8.8%)

62 (25.9%)

121 (50.6%)

35 (14.6%)

6

Codeswitching is appropriate in Nigerian home made videos.

20 (8.2%)

74 (30.5%)

105 (43.2%)

44 (18.1%)

2

Codeswitching is a marker of high proficiency among bilinguals.

39 (16.5%)

80 (33.8%)

91 (38.4%)

27 (11.4%)

8

Codeswitching is a stigma among Nigerians.

21(8.8%) 88 (36.4%)

84 (34.7%)

49 (20.2%)

3

Implication Codeswitching enhances effective communication.

32 (13.4%)

63 (26.5%)

105 (44.1%)

38 (16.0%)

7

Codeswitching impairs effective communication.

30 (13.1%)

84 (36.7%)

84 (36.7%)

31 (13.5%)

16

Codeswitching hinders proper acquisition of English.

47 (19.5%)

102 (42.3%)

70 (29.0%)

22 (9.1%)

4


Codeswitching can affect proper usage of one’s mother tongue.

26 (10.7%)

53 (21.8%)

108 (44.4%)

56 (23.1%)

2

Function Codeswitching is an interactional strategy.

21 (8.8%)

40 (16.5%)

141 (58.3%)

40 (16.5%)

3

Codeswitching helps to establish intimacy.

25 (10.5%)

49 (20.5%)

137 (57.3%)

28 (11.7%)

6

Codeswitching is a means of alienating other people from conversations.

46 (19.0%)

91 (37.6%)

85 (35.1%)

20 (8.3%)

3

Codeswitching can be used to express ethnic identities.

20 (8.4%)

48 (20.2%)

128 (53.8%)

42 (17.6%)

7

Codeswitching arises from an inability to find appropriate terms in one language.

18 (7.5%) 70 (29.2%)

101 (42.1%)

51 (21.3%)

5

Codeswitching is an index of language incompetence.

40 (16.7%)

76 (31.7%)

94 (39.2%)

30 (12.5%)

5

Codeswitching is indicative of mental laziness

10 (4.1%) 40 (16.5%)

106 (43.8%)

86 (35.5%)

3


The table above, especially the section on attitude, generally suggests that the attitudes of most of the respondents to most of these items are positive. For instance, 81.3% believe that most Nigerian bilinguals cannot do without codeswitching. Since these respondents are educated, this high percentage seems to suggest that to most educated Nigerians, switching from one language to another is “normal”. This is especially so when we consider the fact that 44.2% of them hold the view that instances of CS should not be corrected. 56% believe that interaction can start with CS while 60.3% think that we can codeswitch when people around us do so. Similarly, 65.2% claim that CS is a common phenomenon among educated Nigerians. The majority of the subjects (61.3%) believe that CS is appropriate in Nigerian home videos. However, 54.9% believe that CS is a stigma while 61.5% think that it is a source of irritation in any interaction. In order to have an overview of the Likert Scale used, we then sum up the attitudinal values which give us a mean score of 52.1%. Out of the 245 respondents who participated, 54.7% (i.e., 134 respondents) scored over 52.1% while 45.3% (i.e., 111 respondents) scored below 52.1%. This, in a way, implies that the majority of our subjects had a favourable attitude towards CS.

a. Is there a significant difference among the schools in their attitudes to codeswitching?

In order to show whether or not there is a significant difference among the four institutions which participated in this research, the data are subjected to an ANOVA test as shown below (Table 5).

Table 5: Attitudes of Respondents by School

School No Mean Std Dev F value

P value

Decision Reason

ACE 69 50.28 8.623 3.725 0.012 Significant P<0.05OAU 125 53.73 7.309LASCE 20 50.90 7.333UNAD 31 50.58 7.201Total 245 52.13 7.819


The mean scores as well as their standard deviations are as stated above. After the ANOVA test, the F value is 3.725 while the P value is 0.012 which is less than 0.05. This means that there is a significant difference among the schools. However, since this ANOVA cannot state the relationships among the schools in terms of the significant difference, we then carried out a post hoc test to show which of the schools are significantly related to each other (Table 6).

Table 6: Post-hoc Test Showing Attitudes of Respondents by Schools

(I) School (J) Schools

Mean

Difference

(I-J)

Std Error Sig

95% Confidence

Interval

Lower Bound Upper Bound

ACE OAU

LASCE

UNAD

-3.453*

-625

-305

1.154

1.953

1.663

.003

.749

.855

-5.72

-4.47

-3.58

-1.18

3.22

2.97OAU ACE

LASCE

UNAD

3.453*

2.828

3.147*

1.154

1.852

1.543

.003

.128

.043

1.18

-82

-11

5.72

6.48

6.19

LASCE ACE OAU

UNAD

625

-2.828

319

1.953

1.852

2.206

.749

.128

.885

-3.22

-6.48

-4.03

4.47

.82

4.66UNAD ACE

OAU

LASCE

.305 1.663 .885 -2.97 3.58

-3.147* 1.543 .043 -6.19 -.11

-.319 2.206 .885 -4.66 4.03

*The mean difference is significant at the .05 level


Table 6 shows that when ACE is held constant against other schools, it is significantly related to OAU, as the p value is .003, but it is not significantly related to either LASCE or UNAD. When OAU is held constant, it is significantly related to both ACE at .003 and UNAD at .043 but not to LASCE. Similarly, when UNAD is held constant it is significantly related to OAU at .043 p value. However, when LASCE is held constant against other schools, it is not significantly related to any of the schools. This then means that although there is a significant difference among the schools, the difference is caused by the relationship between ACE and OAU, OAU and ACE, ACE and OAU, OAU and UNAD and UNAD and OAU.

b. Can programme cause a significant difference in the attitudes of Nigerian tertiary institution students to codeswitching?

Presented here (Table 7) is the analysis of the attitudes of the subjects of this study based on their qualification:

Table 7: Attitudes of Respondents by Programme D

TotalDegree NCE

Attitudes Favourable Count

% within attitudes

% within D

116

86.6%

55.8%

18

13.4%

48.6%

134

100.0%

54.7%

Attitudes Not favourable Count

% within attitudes

% within D

92

82.9%

44.2%

19

17.1%

51.4%

111

100.0%

45.3% Count

% within attitudes

Total % within D

208

84.9%

100.0%

37

15.1%

100.0%

245

100.0%

100.0%


Out of 245 subjects who participated in this study, 54.7% had a favourable attitude to CS while 45.3% did not. 55.8% of the students pursuing degrees had a favourable attitude to CS while 44.2% had an unfavourable attitude to it. Whereas 48.6% of NCE students had a favourable attitude to CS, 51.4% had an unfavourable attitude to it. This means that undergraduate students are more positively inclined to use CS than NCE students. On the whole, more students are favourably disposed to the use of CS. However, this table has not shown whether or not the difference between the attitudes of NCE and undergraduate students is significant, neither has it shown whether or not there is a significant difference between favourable and unfavourable attitudes. Hence, a t-test is conducted, as shown below.

Table 8: Attitudes of Respondents by Programme IIQualification No Mean Std Dev F

valueP value

Decision Reason

Degree 208 52.63 7.656 1.313 .253 NS P>0.05NCE 37 49.27 8.218

The mean scores for the undergraduate students and NCE students are 52.63 and 49.27 respectively. The standard deviation for the undergraduate students is 7.656 while that of the NCE students is 8.218. The P value is .253, which is greater than .05. This means that the programmes of study of the subjects did not result in any significant difference in their attitudes to codeswitching.

Table 9 below presents the summary of the Chi-square test which shows the responses of the respondents by institution.


Table 9: Attitudes of Respondents by InstitutionACE

OAU

Schools

LASCE UNAD Total

Attitudes Favour-able

Count

% within attitudes

% within Schools

30

22.4%

43.5%

80

59.7%

64.0%

9

6.7%

45.0%

15

11.2%

48.4%

134

100.0%

54.7%Attitudes Not Favour-able

Count

% within attitudes

% within Schools

39

35.1%

56.5%

45

40.5%

36.0%

11

9.9%

55.0%

16

14.4%

51.6%

111

100.0%

45.3%Total Count

% within attitudes

% within Schools

69

28.2%

100.0%

125

51.0%

100.0%

20

8.2%

100.0%

31

12.7%

100.0%

245

100.0%

100.0%

Chi-Square Tests

Value Df Asymp. Sig

Pearson Chi-Square

9.127a 3 .028

Likeli-hood Ratio

9.180 3 .027


Linear-by-Linear Associa-tion

.068 1 .795

No. of Valid Cases

245

From ACE, 43.5% of the subjects had favourable attitudes to CS while 56.5% did not. At OAU, 64% were favourably disposed to the use of CS and 36% were not. 45% and 55% were recorded in LASCE as having favourable and unfavourable attitudes respectively, while in UNAD, 48.4% had favourable attitudes and 51.6% had unfavourable attitudes to CS. Of all the schools, it was in OAU that we recorded the highest percentage of favourable attitudes. A Chi-Square test was used to show if there is a significant difference between favourable and unfavourable attitudes among the schools. The result indicated that the P-value is 0.028, which is less than 5%. This then implies that the difference among the schools is significant.

6.0 Conclusion

The major goal of this paper has been to examine the attitudes of some educated Nigerians to codeswitching. The study set out to achieve this aim by finding out whether social factors like schools attended, ethnicity and the types of programme being pursued can affect one’s attitudes to CS. Generally speaking, the overall patterns of the respondents’ attitudes to CS indicate that more than half of the respondents are favourably inclined to use and engage in CS. This means that there is a gradual acceptance of the use of CS among educated Nigerians. This study confirms Akande’s (2010) study in which university graduates of different disciplines codeswitch freely between English and Nigerian Pidgin English. The study has revealed that schools differ in their attitudes to CS as it has been shown that a significant difference can exist due to the relationship between one school and the other. Although students on


degree programmes are more favourably disposed to the use of CS than students on NCE programmes, the programmes of students do not result in a significant difference in their attitudes.


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Amuda, A. A. 1994. Yoruba/English conversations: code-switching as a conversational strategy. African Languages and Cultures, 7.1, 121-131.

Auer, P. 2005. A postscript: code-switching and social identity. Journal of Pragmatics, 37, 403-410.

Babalola, E. T. and Taiwo, R. 2009. Code-switching in contemporary Nigerian hip hop music. Itupale: Online Journal of African Studies, 1, 1-26.

Baker, C. 1992. Attitudes and Language. Avon: Clevendon.

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Volume 22 (2011)

93Dare

Orality in Osundare’s Poetry: “WH-ASK” and “NP-WH-LET” ConstructionsSamson Dare1

Abstract

Two rhetorical structural types, characterised as WH-ASK and NP-WH-LET constructions, derived from the Yoruba praise and incantatory poetic tradition, are identified in Niyi Osundare’s poetry. The syntax, though distinct and unique, does not violate the combinatory possibilities of English. Breaking no rules of the syntax of English, the syntagmatic patterns inevitably draw attention to themselves as characteristic habits of thought and modes of expression of the Yoruba people. The syntacto-rhetorical borrowing from Yoruba poetry represents the poet’s efforts at “domesticating” English or making it carry the “weight” of his Yoruba experience.

The paper identifies a profound and highly rewarding interaction between the lexical and syntactic arrangements in the poet’s creative works, pointing out that no investigation of the oral dimension of his poetry should ignore the structural paradigm.

Introduction

Many writers have commented usefully and perceptively on the metaphors, symbols and images in Osundare’s poetry, situating his works within his rich Yoruba cultural heritage (cf, for example, Aiyejina, 1988; Jeyifo, 1988; Osoba, 1985). No doubt, one of the poet’s great strengths is his ability to produce streams of lexical items in their enormous variety and richness which enable him to infuse and suffuse his poetry with meanings deriving from both Yoruba and English resources. Impressed by this quality, Biodun Jeyifo (1988: 316-317) observes:

Words and images delight and excite Osundare in the way that a painter in love with his calling delights in colours, and a sculptor who works in molten bronze enthuses in the plasticity of his medium.

1 Samson Dare is a Lecturer in the Department of English, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria.


Surprisingly, however, little or no scholarly attention has been paid to the poet’s syntax, a situation that gives the misleading impression that not much is remarkable about his syntax. This paper claims that Osundare’s success as a poet is attributable as much to the uniqueness of his syntax as to any other quality of his style.

Two rhetorical structural types, derived, to be sure, from the Yoruba oral tradition, are identifiable in his poetry. The syntax, though distinct and unique, does not violate the combinatory possibilities of English. Breaking no rules of the syntax of English, the syntagmatic patterns inevitably draw attention to themselves as characteristic habits of thought and modes of expression of the Yoruba people.

I characterize these two syntactic phenomena as: WH-ASK-Constructions and NP-WH-LET-Constructions. The syntacto-rhetorical borrowing from Yoruba poetry represents the poet’s efforts at “domesticating” English or making it “carry the weight of [his] African experience” (Achebe 1975: 62). Indeed, the words of Achebe which have almost become canonical on this subject suit Osundare’s practice perfectly well:

I feel that the English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its new African surroundings (ibid, emphasis mine).

Such “domestication by African writers, here represented by Niyi Osundare, can hardlly be otherwise since the “interpenetration of literature, language, and culture makes style in the final analysis, a cultural phenomenon” ( Spencer et al 1964: 59). This point has also been made quite impressively by Banjo (1982: 3,4):

It is certainly to be expected that a second language does bear the marks of the users’ first language, and this is all the more so when the user is a creative artist using the language with a high degree of consciousness.

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He continues:

Even an artist creating in his mother tongue has enough difficulty making his medium express his meaning. In such a situation, the metaphorical use of language may come to his aid. When the writer is creating in a second language, however, he has the added problem that he is using his medium to explore a territory unfamiliar to the language. But his difficulty is compensated for by the fact that he has the resources, not of one language, but of two or more, to help him to cope with the task. It is therefore not surprising that, for example, much of African literature in English expression reveals figurative expressions derived not only from English but from African language as well.

The “coping strategies” adopted by Osundare involve not just the use of lexico-semantic items that are loaded with Yoruba cultural values, but the employment of syntactic structures that are peculiarly Yoruba.

The analyzed samples come from The Eye of the Earth (1986), Waiting Laughters (1988) and Midlife (1993). It is interesting that the syntactic features identified, analyzed and discussed are almost exclusively restricted to these three books of poetry which evidently are the most mature, sophisticated and profound of Osundare’s works. While generously drawing from and utilising the Yoruba traditional resources, the poet has adroitly brought those resources under his control, allowing them to straddle, in an aesthetically pleasing manner, two traditions—the oral and the literate. The way he has “managed” these two syntactic structures is a measure of the masterly skills that he brings into his recent poetic creations.

“WH-ASK” and “NP-WH-LET” Constructing and Yoruba Habits of Thought

In claiming that Osundare is indebted to his Yoruba cultural heritage, I do not intend to suggest that the content and form of his poetry are taken lock, stock, and barrel from Yoruba oral poetry. As I have argued elsewhere (see Dare, 2009:286-287; 1989:18-30), it is usually the case that the poet seems to be under compulsion to borrow the linguistic and/or the


generic forms from Yoruba verbal habits, leaving out the content. Even the forms are usually so adroitly appropriated and adopted that readers have no scintilla of doubt that they now belong to Osundare. For example, there is no doubt that the following poem (from Moonsongs, pp51-52) owes its form and, to some extent, its nuances to the Yoruba incantatory tradition:

Not a knell, oh not yet a knellA thousand rains cannot slay the fire of the parrotNot a knellA thousand oceans cannot rival the indigo of agbeNot a knellA thousand showers cannot rout the camwood of aluko Not a knellA thousand moths cannot quench the candle of the moonNo, not yet a knellWe shall not go till we have eaten the elephant of the moon We shall not go till our scrupulous eyes have stitched the brokentendons of the skyWe shall not goin the chronicle of stubborn trees.

The repetition of whole phrases, clauses and sentences as well as lexical and semantic repetition gives the poem away as belonging to the tradition of spell-casting in Yoruba poetry. However, the inputs from the oral tradition have remained excellently unobtrusive.

In the specific case of the employment of “WH-ASK” and “NP-WH-LET” constructions, the adaptation of the oral modes has been as subtle as, if not more so than the example above. The structural types here identified do not occur as tidily as I have made them to appear or as Osundare as used them. To be sure, all of them do occur in one mode of expression or the other in Yoruba oral presentations such as proverbs, oral declamations, pithy sayings and riddles. Niyi Osundare, himself a stylistician, has been able to piece them into coherent and significantly attention-getting frameworks, into which he “pours” painstakingly prepared contents. No

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reader who is usefully familiar with Yoruba culture will fail to find echoes of Yoruba thought-habits in the syntactic frameworks.

At this point let us consider some examples of those constructions which must have influenced the poet. As has been observed, the data are not as organized as they occur in Osundare’s poetry; the tidied forms have been synthesized by the poet. In consequence, the presentations that follow are necessarily random.

1. Agba wa bura b’ewe o ba se o ri.

(Yoruba)

Let the elder swear who never exhibited youthful exuberance.

This proverb contains NP-WH and Let constructions. It is a proverb usually employed to counsel elderly people not to be too hard on the young when they indulge in excesses.

2. Apoosa-mapo Ogun Ara e l’o

tan je. (Yoruba)

He who praises other deities but ignores Ogun deceives himself.

This piece is taken from ijala or the hunters’ chants. It is useful to note that Ogun is the patron deity of the hunters, hence his pre-eminence in the scheme of things. Since Ogun is universally worshipped by the Yoruba people, and there are hunters in every community, this saying is familiar among the people. We have an NP-WH structure in this example.

3. Ni’bo niyo ti fon, ole to gbe kakaki’ Oba... (Yoruba)

Where will he blow it, the thief

who stole the King’s trumpet?

In earlier times, there could be only one trumpet in a community, and that would belong to the king. And so, the thief would neither be able to sell it (as there would no buyer) nor blow it (for all would know that it was the property of the king). This saying is also an NP-WH construction.

4. Omo to’ni iya ohun ko nii sun, ohun naa ko ni fo’jun le oorun. (Yoruba)

The baby who will not allow his mother to sleep, he himself will not have even a nap.


It is known that troublesome babies do not sleep at night and therefore deprive their mothers of sleep. The point of the proverb is that anybody that insists on making other people miserable would partake in the misery. This is an example of an NP-WH construction.

5. Eniti yo da’so fun’ni, t’orun re la a wo. (Yoruba)

He who promises to give us a gift of a garment, let us (or we should) assess (the quality of) the one he wears.

The import of the proverb is that before setting any store by a person’s promise, we must assess the person’s ability to fulfil that promise. Here we have an example of an NP-WH-LET construction.

6. Enito mi kukute, ara e lo mi. (Yoruba)

He who shakes the stump, shakes himself

Being thick and deep-rooted, the stump is difficult to shake, not to mention uproot. It is a proverbial way of saying that anybody who attempts to displace us, or remove us maliciously from our God-ordained vantage position would endanger his/her own life or interest. We have an NP-WH structure here.

7. Itakun to’ni k’erin ma g’oke, t’o The climber that/which stands on the elephant’s way will willy-nilly move with the elephant.

This is another proverb about people who may want to stand in our way or prevent us from making progress. Such people will be destroyed if they prove stubborn. The proverb illustrates an NP-WH structure.

8. Adie to su ti ko to, ara e lo wa. (Yoruba)

The hen that/which defecates but does not urinate will bear the discomfort in its body.

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This proverb conveys an observation that the hen, seemingly deliberately, does not urinate. The idea is that defecation is normally accompanied by urination. It means the hen, by its unusual habit, is deliberately hurting itself. In the same vein, nobody should argue with anyone who deliberately insists on hurting him-/herself. It illustrates the NP-WH construction.

9. Enit’o nwo iseju akan yo pe leti omi. (Yoruba)

He who seeks to watch the crab blink will stay long by the river side.

In this proverb, the Yoruba people express the belief that the crab neither blinks nor sleeps, and therefore, anyone who wants to watch it do so will be disappointed. The inference is that anyone who seeks our misfortune will wait in vain. Here we have an NP-WH structure.

10. Nkan ti n bini ni o bi won. Kojo paa feni, kojo paa feran eni. N ka ti n bini o bi won. (Yoruba)

That thing that asks questions will question them; it is not clear whether they love us or do not love us; that thing that asks questions will ask them.

These statements are proverbial extracts from the “voice” of the talking drum (Sotunsa, 2003:104). They are a way of appealing to the conscience of those who have been insincere in their love for us. “That thing that asks questions” is an abstract phenomenon, perhaps the conscience itself. It should be noted that the word “ask” occurs here, although not in the context of the WH-ASK construction type.

11. Lamorin lo’wo en roju, e o bere lowo ori; e ti gbagbe akunleyan. (Yoruba)

Because so and so is prosperous, you areunhappy, instead, you should have askedfrom your head. You have forgotten yourpredestined fortune.

This verbal fragment is from the music of Ebenezer Obey, a popular and celebrated Yoruba juju musician. His thoughts are generally regarded as essentially Yoruba. The idea here is about the immutability of predestination. The occurrence of the word ‘ask’ here is also remarkable.


It would seem that the word ASK as part of the WH-ASK construction is not present in the data provided. The two times it occurs (in numbers 10 and 11), it does so not as clearly as it does in the hypothesized context. First, let us remember the point made earlier that the bringing together of these construction elements in such a tidy manner is due largely to the synthetic efforts of the poet. Second, the word “ask” in the sense in which it is noted in Osundare’s work, is so common in popular speech that it is paradoxical that it does not occur as frequently in the contexts of heightened use of language.

If, for example, someone has caused a problem, and another person who was not present when the problem occurred desires to know how the problem came about, the eye-witnesses would say, “ask so-and-so”, an utterance that also points to the person who caused the problem. The Yoruba would advise anyone who wants to know about the condition of a man to “ask” his wife, vice versa (“Bo ti n se aya, e bere lowo oko”; i.e., “concerning the welfare of the wife, ask the husband”). If there is anything to know about a country, the Yoruba people would say, “ask the political leaders”. A popular musician, Ayinla Kollington, says “if you are looking for me and you cannot find me, please ask so-and-so”. The person to ask is obviously his intimate friend.

The more philosophical use of the word “ask” is to be found in example (11) above in which people are expected to “ask” their head or personal spirit about their fortune or misfortune. It is against this background of the pervasive and philosophical use of the word “ask” that we can appreciate its poetic re-contextualization by Osundare.

WH - ASK Constructions

As we have noted, Osundare has a predilection for constructions which begin with WH and end with the imperative construction introduced by the verb “ask”: The WH can be a noun phrase starting with “what”, a relative clause introduced by “who” or an adverbial clause of place introduced by “where”. Invariably, the WH construction conveys a mystery, a riddle or a poser, the resolution of which is to be found in the complement of the verb “ask”. The mystery or riddle can be about time, a place, an incident, a living or non-living entity.

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Here are examples from Waiting Laughters (p. 38): where green graves cluster like question marks Ask Steve Ask WalterAsk Nelson who seed waiting moments with sinews of fleeting seasons Ask the metaphor of our strength Ask the strength of our metaphor Ask the breaking, broken stones of Robben Island ... Ask the bleeding anthem on the lips of wounded kraals Ask the dappled darings on billowing banners

The fact that the ‘Ask’ aspects are so many in this excerpt suggests that the answers are to be found not just in one complement, say Steve or Walter or Nelson, but in many complements of the imperative constructions.

This is another set of WH-ASK-Constructions from Midlife (p. 52):

What mystery drives the cow to the butcher’s tableask its hump,what thunder riles the throat of the barking dogask its sturdy teethwhat marvel makes Ifa the cradle of wisdomask tooth-eyed cowries of the divining tray

In these constructions, the WH aspect is a noun phrase conveying a riddle or a mystery. In the first WH aspect, the word ‘mystery’ explicitly informs us of the riddle. In the second and third, the nouns of interest are ‘thunder’ and ‘marvel’ respectively. The resolution of the ‘riddles’ and ‘mysteries’ is to be discovered in the Ask-construction.

The observations we have made about those constructions are applicable to the following example from page 105 of Midlife:


What burden has shortened the tortoise neckask the river, ask the rockask the hard, hard tale of its old, old back

What sneaky wrath stole the snake’s legsask the tree, ask the grassask the crispy fruit at the edge of the branchWhat red labour provokes the termiteask the clay, ask the clanask the anthills chambers by the long, sad road

What end awaits the foraging fireask the patience of waterWhat fate awaits the brooding shadowask the straightening stature of the noontide sun

The WH-ASK constructions lend support to the fact that Osundare’s poetry is “a song”. The WH aspect serves as the main song, while the “ASK” aspect serves as the refrain. In addition, this type of construction is common in African folklore. So is the riddle-like content of the lyrics. Besides, the “ASK” aspects of the construction help the poet to “distance” himself from the answer. He is saying: “Don’t ask me; rather, ask so and so”. He directs his reader to the complements of the verb “ask”. Not only does the ‘strategy’ fit into the lyrical mode, but also it is an effective rhetorical strategy. The strategy envisages an audience who are “asked” to do the “asking”. It is not the poet who is doing the “asking”. Rather, the poet is ‘asking’ the audience to do it. Thus the poet-rhetorician employs a style that gives him the appearance of an objective speaker or chanter.

NP-WH-LET Constructions

The poet uses another type of construction I have identified as the NP-WH-let structure. A noun phrase is followed by a relative (or adjective) clause (WH) which is in turn followed by an imperative construction introduced by “let”. The noun phrase can also be a pronoun. Here is a set of such constructions from Waiting Laughters (p. 50-51):

The bison who thinks he is the king of the wild let him remember raging elephants with legs of mortar

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The hillock which thinks it is the frontier of heightslet it remember the kilimanjaro so hotwith a peak of simmering snow

The streamlet which thinks it is the Zambesi of the lorelet it remember the sea which merges earthand sky in realms of misty blue

The prophet who thinks he has conquered tomorrowlet him mount galloping mountains and marveldodging canters of the horse of time

The shogun who says he is an awesome godlet him take note of burning statuesand streets wild with vengeful spears. . .

In each of these constructions, the focus comes first - the noun phrase: the bison, the hillock, the streamlet, the prophet and the shogun. Each of the relative clauses purveys the vainglorious claim of the subject. The let-imperative aspect calls the attention of each subject to the fact that there is something or somebody greater than it (or him). The verb following each of the relative pronouns is “thinks” (except the last which is followed by “says”). The import of this verb is that the greatness or superiority of the subject is a fact that exists only in his mind or imagination. The verb “remember” occurs in each of the first three let-imperative aspects and the item ‘take note’, which I take as the semantic equivalence of the former, occurs in the last. The verb is used to draw the subject’s attention to the humbling or sobering truth that in spite of its (or his) vaunting, there is something or somebody significantly greater.

In these constructions, the poet is not addressing the subject directly; he is not, in other words, apostrophizing. Each of the subjects is treated like a third person that is not present. It would appear as if the poet, typically, is singing. The ‘song’ is contained in the NP-introduced construction, while the ‘refrain’ is to be found in the ‘let’ aspects of the constructions. There may not be verbal economy in these lines, but there is certainly music, which is to be found in the lexico-syntactic repetitions. For the purposes


of these lines, ‘the bison’ is the foil of ‘raging elephants’, ‘the hillock’, that of ‘Kilimanjaro’, ‘the streamlet’, that of ‘the sea’ and ‘the prophet’, that of ‘dodging chanters of the horse of time’.

Similar constructions are:They whose ears are close to the earthLet them take cover in the bunker of their wits (Waiting Laughters, p.49).

Those who marvel the canine fire in your mouthlet them seek refuge in the fluffy grace of your restless tail (The Eye of the Earth, p.8).

The structures are practically the same as those discussed above but the sentiments expressed are different. It is significant to note that while each of the first set of sentences is introduced by a noun phrase, these two are introduced each by a pronoun: ‘they’ and ‘those’. The two constructions are pieces of advice; the first for those “whose ears are close to the earth”, the second for “those who marvel the canine fire in your (squirrel’s) mouth. The ‘let’ aspect in these cases enables the poet to engage in mere rhapsody.

Conclusion

This paper has noted that even though Osundare’s major strength rests on his ability to evoke a variety of images and symbols through the employment of a wide range of lexical items, the syntactic patterns in his poetry are a crucial aspect of what has come to be identified as the distinctive and robust style of the poet. Indeed, the traditional elements in and oral nature of much of Osundare’s poetry may be accounted for not just in terms of the lexico-semantic patterns, but also, in a very important way, in terms of the syntagmatic relations in the works.

As the analysis has indicated, there is a profound and highly rewarding interaction between the lexical and the syntactic arrangements in the poet’s creative works. It is suggested that any investigation of the oral dimension of his poetry should take into account his syntactic choices,

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especially the “WH-ASK” and “NP-WH-LET” constructions. These two structures are not the only remarkable constructions actively involved in the creation of meaning in Osundare’s poetry, but they cannot be ignored in any discussion of most his works.

The interesting fact about these construction types is that they are derived from the Yoruba mode of thinking. Specifically, the structures are “borrowed” from Yoruba praise and incantatory poetry.


ReferencesPrimary SourcesOsundare, Niyi. (1986). The Eye Of The Earth. Ibadan: Heinemann.Osundare, Niyi. (1988). Waiting Laughters. Lagos: Malthouse Press Ltd.Osundare, Niyi. (1993). Midlife. Ibadan: Heinemann.

Secondary SourcesAchebe, Chinua. (1975). The African Writer and the English Language. Morning Yet Creation Day. London: Heinemann Educational Books.

Adagboyin, A.S. (1996). Niyi Osundare. Ibadan: Sam Bookman.

Aiyejina, Funsho. (1988) . ‘Recent Nigerian Poetry in English: An Alternative Tradition’. In Ogunbiyi (ed.), Perspectives on African Literature. Lagos: Guardian Books Nigeria Ltd. Vol. 1.

Ajayi R.O. (1987). Two of a kind? Art and Politics in the Poetry of Niyi Osundare. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Banjo, Ayo. (1982). ‘The Linguistic Factor in African Literature: A Keynote Address’, an unpublished paper presented at Ibadan International Conference on African Literature, University of Ibadan.

Dare, A.S. (1989). “New Wine in Old Wine Skin: Dead But Quickened Expressions in Osundare’s Poetry”. In Oye: Ogun Journal of Arts, an official journal of the Faculty of Arts, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria, II, 18-30.

Osoba, G. (1985). A Stylistic Analysis of Niyi Osundare’s Songs of the Market Place. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Department of English, University of Ibadan.

Olatunji, O.O. (1984). Features of Yoruba Oral Poetry. Ibadan: University Press Limited.

Sotunsa, M.O. (2009). Yoruba Drum Poetry. London: Stillwaters Studios.

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Locative constructions and positional verbs in Logba

Kofi Dorvlo1

Abstract

This article discusses the semantics of verbs which are used in basic locative constructions in Logba to code spatial information. I will show that there are twelve verbs in Logba, a Ghana Togo Mountain language. The verb le [‘be located’] is the unmarked form and eleven other positional verbs— kpɔ ‘lie’ kɔ ‘hang’ tɔ ‘fix’ tsi ‘ sit’ ye ‘stand’ gbɛ ‘lean’ gbo ‘ fall’ tsoga ‘lie across’ bata ‘wind round’ glɛ ‘tie’ dzi ‘tie firmly’— are used in three constructions in reply to a ‘where search’ question (see Dorvlo 2008). In the three constructions that will be presented, the subject NP position is filled by the Figure followed by the locative verb and the postpositional phrase (Ground). In the first construction, the unmarked locative verb is used and is followed by a postpositional phrase. The second construction is slightly different as the ground phrase is marked by a preposition while in the third construction the noun in the postpositional phrase can be analyzed as a body part noun. I will show that serial verb constructions involving two verbs are used to give an accurate description of the manner and position of the figure to the ground.

1.0 Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to describe the semantics and use of twelve verbs employed in a basic locative construction in Logba to code spatial information. Logba is one of the fourteen Ghana Togo Mountain (henceforth GTM) languages spoken by about 7,500 people in Ghana. Heine (1968) sub-classified these languages as Ka and Na Togo languages and placed Logba into the Na Togo sub group. By this classification, Logba has her linguistic neighbours like Likpe and Buem in the Northern cluster whereas her geographical neighbours are Avatime, Nyagbo and Tafi which are Ka Togo languages.

1 Kofi Dorvlo is a Research Fellow at the Language Centre, University of Ghana, Legon.


Westermann and Bryan (1952) consider the GTM languages as an isolated group because they have vocabulary items which show a relationship to Kwa and a noun class system that is similar to Bantu languages. Greenberg (1963a) classifies them among the Kwa sub-group B of the Niger-Congo family. Logba has however not shown any grammatical feature of locative noun classes as Bantu languages are known to have done. Rather, it has an unmarked locative verb in addition to eleven other positional verbs which are used in the Basic Locative Construction (henceforth BLC).

BLC is the construction that is used as an answer when a question is posed to find out the location of an entity. When the question where is x? is posed, the answer is a construction in which there is a locative verb and an NP–Postposition indicating the location. The elicitation tool employed in this research is the Topological Relation Picture Series (henceforth TPRS) (Bowerman and Pederson, 1993). This tool is designed to help researchers identify the resources that languages have for encoding static topological relations between Figure and Ground (Talmy 1983). Figure is the entity whose location is at stake and Ground is where the Figure is located. Another elicitation tool used is the Picture Series for Positional Verbs (Ameka et al., 1999). In demonstrating this tool, different pictures of objects in different positions were made available to consultants, to whom was posed the question: where is x? The respondents had to provide full clause answers to describe the pictures they saw, especially the position of the Figure to the Ground. The data from the elicitation tools and those from what I will refer to as semi-natural responses are used as a basis for the discussion in this paper.

The BLC is made up of a reference object and a search domain or part of the reference object where the Figure is located. Based on these criteria, Levinson and Wilkins (2006) identify four language types using the verbal component in the BLC. In the first group, there is no verb in the BLC. In the second group are languages that use a copula in the BLC as in English or a locative verb as in Ewe. There is also a third group which has a large set of dispositional verbs, of which Akan and Likpe are examples. In addition, Dutch is cited as belonging to a group that has a small contrastive set of positional verbs (see Levinson and Wilkins 2006). Judging from this grouping, I propose that Logba belongs to the same group as Akan and Likpe. This is because, in addition to the locative verb

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le [‘be located’] which is the unmarked form, there are about eleven other positional verbs used in the BLC.

In the next section, I describe the topological profile of Logba, after which I present the BLC in section 3. In section 4, the uses and meanings of the individual verbs are described, with attention paid to their other uses in the language. Section 5 is the summary. The data used in the paper comprise spontaneous spoken texts I collected during fieldwork in 2004. In addition, I use responses from stimulated data designed by members of the Language and Cognition Group at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands for the investigation of topological relations and the semantics of posture verbs.

1.0 Typological profile of Logba

There are three syllable types in Logba: peak only, which can be a vowel or nasal, onset and peak, and an onset made up of two consonants plus peak. Logba is a tone language with two basic tones. These are High and Low, with falling and rising tones generated phonetically. Each syllable bears a tone of its own. Tone is realized on vowels and syllabic nasals. Logba has twenty-two consonant phonemes and seven vowels. There are no phonemically nasalized vowels in the language; the nasalized vowels are a result of assimilation. It has a stem controlled Advanced Tongue Root [ATR] vowel harmony system where the stem determines the [ATR] value of the affixes.

Logba is an SVO language. The subject is cross-referenced on the verb in the form which agrees with the subject in class. In (1) ɔsa [‘man’] the subject of the sentence is a singular noun with the prefix /ɔ-/. This noun triggers /o-/, a [+ATR] vowel as agreement marker on ye [‘stand’] because the verb stem has a [+ATR] vowel /e/. Example (2) has as subject afuta [‘cloth’]. The class marker of afuta is /a-/ and this noun belongs to a class of artifacts that cross references /a-/ on the verb to signal agreement. iva [‘thing’] in example (3) belongs to a class of mass nouns and triggers /i-/ on the verb tɔ [‘fix’].


1. ɔsa a o-ye u-tsa a zugboman=DET SM.SG-stand CM-building=DET head

‘The man stands on top of the hill’ [TPRS34]

2. a-futa a a-tsi bagi é nuCM-cloth SM.SG sit bag=DET containing region

‘A cloth is in the bag’ [TPRS 14]

3. i-va i -tɔ u-hi e tsu CM-thing SM-fix CM-knife=DET upper surface‘Something is on the knife’ [TPRS 12]

In the NP, the noun modifiers follow the head and there is agreement between the demonstrative and interrogative and the head noun. Among the numerals, it is the numbers one to six that show agreement with the head noun. The verb roots take prefixes which are subject pronominal or aspect markers. In three place constructions with a single verbal element, the Recipient precedes the Theme.

In sentences (4) and (5), ta [‘teach’] is used as a three place verb with a pre-verbal NP, Gameli (Agent) and two post verbal arguments. In sentence (4), the Recipient, Kofi precedes the Theme, iɖa [‘money’]. Sentence (5) is however ungrammatical because the Theme, iɖa precedes Kofi, the Recipient.

4. Gameli o-ta Kofi i- ɖa Gameli CM-give Kofi CM-money‘Gameli gave Kofi money’

5. *Gameli o-ta i- ɖa KofiGameli CM-give CM-money Kofi‘Gameli gave Kofi money’

To express possession, the possessor and the possessed item are juxtaposed, maintaining the determiner of the possessed item. Nouns in Logba are prefixed by a class marker which is either a vowel or a nasal. The class marker of the possessed noun is maintained for non-human nouns but elided when the possessed item is a kinship term. The possessed items in (6), aklɔ [‘goat’] and (7), otu [‘gun’] are non-human nouns, so

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the class markers, /a/ and /o/, are maintained. Each of the class markers of the possessed item in the possessive expressions in (8) and (9), uma [‘mother’] and utsi [‘father’], however, is elided.

6. ‘Kɔdzo a-klɔ =a 7. i-vanuvo o-tu=e Kɔ dzo CM-goat=DET CM-hunter CM-gun=DET‘Kɔdzo’s goat’ ‘The hunter’s gun’

8. Kofi ma a 9. Esi tsi=e Kofi mother=DET Kofi father=DET

‘Kofi’s mother’ Esi’s father’

Prepositions in Logba comprise a closed class of five members. They are fɔ [‘at’], na [‘on’], kpɔ [‘with’], gu [‘about’] and dzigu [‘from’]. There are nine postpositions in the language. They are nu [‘containing region’], etsi [‘under’], tsu [‘on’], ama [‘back, behind’], ite [‘front’], zugbo [‘head’], yo [‘skin, surface contact’], anu [‘mouth, tip, edge’] and otsoe [‘ear, side’]. While prepositions are diachronically derived from verbs, postpositions are body part terms that have grammaticalised. The preposition is preceded by a finite verb while the postposition forms a constituent with the preceding NP. The two are used to delimit the space that an object occupies. In sentences (10) and (11), fɛ [‘at’] and na [‘on’] are used as prepositions while ama [‘back’] and yo [‘skin’] are functioning as postpositions. Both help to show the location of the noun that they are referring to.

10. i-naɔ-kla fɛ a-bia=a a-ma CM-person SMSG-hide at CM-chair=DET CM-back ‘The person hides behind the chair’ [TPRS.64]

11. a-kla pepa na a-gli=e yo 3PLU-paste pape on CM-wall=DET skin ‘They paste paper on the wall’ [TRPS.44]


In Logba, the question word has two forms, mɛ [‘what’] and mɔ [‘which’/‘who’]. Apart from these, there is another question word, bɛ [‘how many/how much’], used to form question expressions to ask content questions. In (12), mɛ [‘what’] is used to seek information and in (13), bɛ [‘how much’] is used to find out the amount.

12. mɛ Kofi ɔ- nɛ? what Kofi SM.SG-buy ‘What did Kofi buy?’

13. o-vi a-bɛ CM-amount AM-Q ‘How much?

Logba is a verb serializing language. In serial verb constructions, the subject is cross-referenced on the initial verb but the subsequent verbs are not marked. In (14) the two verbs used in the sentence are mi [‘take’] and glɛ [‘tie’]. The subject is cross-referenced on the initial verb mi [‘take’] with the vowel /o/ but not on glɛ [‘tie’], the V2.

14. U-dzi é o-mi tanko glɛ u-zugbo CM-woman=DET SM.SG-take scarf tie CM-head ‘The woman takes scarf to tie head’ [TPRS 46]

Sentences are not overtly marked for tense. The bare form of the verb indicates the simple past tense when dynamic verbs including achievement verbs like donu [‘shrink’] in (15) are used. However, inchoative verbs and verbs that express quality concepts, for example, kisa [‘long’] have present time interpretation.

15. a-vudago=e o-donu CM-leaf=DET SM. SG-shrink ‘The leaf shrank.’

16. ɔ-gba=a o-kisaCM-road=DET SM.SG-be.long ‘The road is long.’

Four morphological preverbal markers are identified in Logba. They are

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present progressive, past progressive, habitual and future markers. There is one underived adjective in Logba. The rest are derived from verbs and nouns. Some intransitive verbs have adjectival meanings in addition to other derived adjectives and ideophones. Negation is expressed using a bipartite negative marker; the first which is obligatory occurs before the initial verb and the second after it. Where a lexical noun is used, the subject marker comes in between the verb and the first negative morpheme. In (17), the verb kpe [‘eat’] is marked with mo NEG which occurs before the verb and the subject marker and nu NEG occurs immediately after it.

17. Iyɛ blɔ -wo é mo-o-kpe-nu-e 3SGIND make-owner-DET NEG-SM.SG-eatNEG 3SGOBJ ‘He who owns it does not benefit from it.’[Proverb]

The term focus marker is ka and immediately follows the constituent that is focused. Focusing the verb is done by placing the bare form of the copy of the verb immediately before the verb word. Speakers of the Tota dialect use another strategy: for term focus, the prominent NP is fronted and is recapitulated by the independent pronoun followed by the rest of the clause. The BLC and other related constructions are presented in the next section.

3.0 The BLC and other related constructions

3.1 The Where search question

The Where search question is used to elicit the location of entities. In Logba, this question is formed by using the interrogative menu [‘where’]. This is a question expression which is a compound comprising me [‘question word’] and nu [‘containing region’]. This occurs clause initially and is followed by the NP that represents the Figure and then le, the unmarked locative verb on which the subject is cross referenced. The interrogative word may be optionally followed by ka, the focus marker. The where search question for a cup on a table [TPRS1] is given in (18) below:

18. Me-nu ka kɔpu e o-leQ-where FOC cup=DET SM.SG-be located ‘Where is the cup?’ [TPRS 1]


3.2 The Basic Locative Construction

The BLC in Logba is made up of the NP which is the figure and the subject of the sentence. This is followed either by le, the unmarked locative verb or any of the eleven selected locative verbs and a postpositional phrase as exemplified in sentences (19) and (20) below:

19. NP V[LOC] [NP Post] PostP

20. Kɔpu é o-le u-kplɔ a tsu cup=DET SM.SG-be.located CM-table=DET tsu upper. surface ‘The cup is on the table’ [TPRS 1]

In some cases, the prepositional phrase is preceded by a locative preposition as shown in (21) and (22):

21. NP V[LOC] Prep [NP Post] PostP

22. Tumpa o-gbe na e-gbi e tsu Bottle SM.SG-lie on CM-stone=DET upper surface ‘A bottle lies on the stone’ [PV 26]

In (10) the postpositional phrase egbi é tsu [‘on the stone’] is preceded by the locative preposition na [‘on’] which contributes to specifying the location of the Figure- bottle on the stone, which is the Ground.

It is also possible for the postposition to be a grammaticalised body part noun. In (23) yo is a grammaticalised form of iyo [‘skin’] and in (24) zugbo is a grammaticalised form of uzugbo [‘head’].

23. Ivatago e i-kɔ a-gli e yo CM-picture-DET SM-hang CM-wall=DET skin‘The picture hangs on the wall’ [TPRS44]

24. ɔyɔ a o-le u-kpo e zugboCM-tree=DET SM.SG-be.located CM-mountain=DET head‘The tree is on the top of the mountain.’[TPRS 65]

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The postposition contributes greatly in showing the location of the figure. In (23) Ivatago é [‘the picture’] is the Figure and agli é [‘the wall’] is the Ground. yo [‘skin’] suggests that the Ground is a vertical surface on which the Figure is located. In (24) the Ground is ukpo é [‘the mountain’] and the grammaticalised body part noun zugbo [‘head’] shows that the Figure is positioned above the view of the speaker. As a result of the grammaticalization, these body part nouns have lost their prefixes which make them nouns. They can therefore not be modified by changing the prefix to form the plural.

Serial Verb Construction (henceforth SVC) is also used to describe the location of a Figure in relation to the Ground. This was observed when some consultants were asked to respond to the where search question. SVC was used to describe the location of the Figure to the Ground in the TPRS. The SVCs in question describe more than the basic location. A two verb SVC was used in which the initial verb helps V2, the locative verb by providing information about the manner in which the Figure is located, as shown in (25) and (26). In (25), the initial verb, gbo [‘be placed’] describes the manner of the location and the V2, gbɛ [‘lean’], concentrates on the position of the Figure . In (26), while the initial verb dzɔ [‘be straight’] denotes the manner of the location, the V2 kpɔ [‘lie’] describes the position of ɔyɔtsigbo e [‘the stump’].

25. ɔ-yɔtsi e o-gbo gbɛ ɔ-yɔ a yoCM-stick=DET SM.SG-be placed lean CM-tree=DET skin‘The stick leans against the tree’ [PV1]

26. ɔ-yɔ a ɔ-dzɔ kpɔ ɔ-yɔ tsigbo e tsuCM-tree=DET. SM.SG-be.straight lie CM-stump=DET upper surface ‘The tree lies straight on the stump’ [PV 61]

Other constructions were encountered in the course of the elicitation. In TPRS 39, which shows a cigarette on the mouth of a person, the structure NP1 V NP2 is used in which NP2 is the Figure as in (27). The Ground is however not stated in this response.


27. ɔ-sa a o-lo-nɔ sigaret CM-man=DET SM.SG-PRSPROG- smoke cigarette ‘The man is smoking cigarette’

Another example is the response to TPRS 26 which shows a picture of a crack on a cup. Two structurally different responses came up. One is NP1 V as in (28). NP1 is the Ground and the V is a property verb. This is an intransitive verb which encodes inherent properties of the entity of which it is predicated. (see Dorvlo 2008). The other one as shown in (29) is NP V[LOC] [NP Post] PostP. In this construction, the subject NP is a –go nominalization of fashi [‘crack’]. This becomes ɔfashigo e [‘the crack’]. Both the Figure and the Ground are captured in this construction. However, some native speakers argue that this is marginally grammatical because the crack is part of the cup and can not be detached from it as with other Figures.

28. Kɔ pu é ɔ-fashi cup=DET SM.SG-crack ‘The cup is cracked’

29. ɔfashigo e o-le kɔpu e yo CM-crack-NOM=DET SM.SG-be.located cup=DET skin ‘The crack is on the cup’

The next section describes the meaning and uses of the individual verbs in relation to the constructions we have discussed in section 3.

Meaning and uses of the individual locative verbs4.1 le [‘be located’]— unmarked locative verb

The focus of this section is on le, the unmarked locative verb. It appears Logba has borrowed this verb from Ewe. This is because the same form is in Ewe, as can be seen in (30) in Ewe and (31) in Logba.

Ewe

30. kɔpu a le kplɔ a dzi up=DET be.located table=DET upper surface ‘The cup is on the table.’Logba

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31. kɔpu e o-le u-kplɔ a tsu cup=DET SM.SG-be.located CM-table=DET upper. surface ‘The cup is on the table.’

It can be observed that since it is a grammatical requirement for the subject to be cross-referenced on the verb in Logba, /o/, a singular subject marker, is prefixed on the verb as shown in (31). One other remarkable feature is that kplɔa [‘the table’] in Ewe as shown in example (30) is ukplɔ a [‘the table’] in Logba in example (31). This is because Logba has a noun class system in which this noun belongs to the group of singular nouns with the /u/ class prefix.

le is able to collocate with a wide number of postpositions. This is shown in (32), (33), (34) and (35). For example, in (32) below, zugbo refers metaphorically to a body part and implies that the person wears the hat. In (33), it refers to the Ground, the top of the ukpo é [‘mountain’]. This is used when the speaker does not want to specify anything about the portion of the Ground but only the general location. In (35) yo [‘skin’] denotes that the spider is lying vertically on the wall.

32. kuto o-le ɔ-sa a zugbo hat SM.SG-be.located CM-man=DET head ‘The hat is on the man’s head.’ [TRPS 05]

33. udzutsuklo é o-le nɖu=e tsu boat=DET SM. SG-be located water=DET on ‘The boat is on the water.’ [TRPS 11]

34. ɔ-yɔ o-le u-kpo e zugbo CM-tree SM.SG-be located CM-mountain=DET head ‘The tree is on the top of the hill.’ [TRPS 65]

35. agbi=e o-le a-gli=e yo spider=DET SM.SG-be located CM-wall=DET skin ‘The spider is on the wall.’ [TRPS 07]4.2 kpɔ ‘lie’


4.2. Positional verbs

Logba has eleven positional or spatial configurational verbs which are used in the predicate slot of the BLC. This section describes the semantics of these verbs.

4.2.1 kpɔ [‘lie’]

kpɔ is used to signal that an item is located somewhere in a horizontal position with its whole body touching the ground. kpɔ is used when reference is made to a human being lying on a mat as in (36). It is also used for a bottle that is not on its base but is in a lying position. Other flexible objects and objects without a base for sitting or standing (eg. pot) are also described as lying in relation to the ground. kpɔ [‘lie’] is also used in greetings. ite ikpɔ loo? [‘You are in front?’], as in (39), is used as a form of greeting to find out whether the person addressed is in good condition. (36), (37), (38) and (39) are examples:

36. ɔ-sa a ɔ -kpɔ ɔ-kla a tsu CM-man=DET SM.SG-lie CM-mat=DET on‘The man lies on the mat.’

37. a-gbi ɛ ɔ-kpɔ u-tsa a yo CM-dog=DETSM. SG-lie CM-house=DET skin‘The dog lies near the house.’[TRPS.06/2]

38. bɔ lɔ -kpɔ a-bia-a etsi ball SM.SG- lie CM-chair under‘The ball is under the chair.’ [TRPS.16]

39. i-te i-kpɔ looCM-front SM.SG-be.lie ADR‘You are in front?’ Lit: The front lies there.

4.2.2 kɔ [‘hang’]

This verb is used for figures which are attached to their referenced objects by suspension, rendering the lower part of the figures loose and possibly dangling. It could be a dress on a hook (TPRS 9) or drying line (TPRS

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37), a picture on a wall (TPRS 44) or a light on a ceiling (TPRS 52). A cloud above a mountain is perceived as hanging there. In an answer to a question with respect to a hoisted flag, two different responses are offered to the where search question by consultants: a locative construction without a postpositional phrase as in (43) and a non locative impersonal construction involving the verb kɔ [‘hang’] but which does not specify the Ground on which it is hanged, as in (44). In (40) and (41) the verb is used with the postposition yo [‘skin’] which refers to only part of the Ground. agu [‘top’] in (42) and (43) is a landmark term (Ameka and Essegbey 2006) and refers to a location meaning ‘above’.

40. a-wu ɛ a-kɔ ivakuiva a yo CM-dress=DET SM.SG-be-hang thing.hang.thing=DET skin‘The dress hangs on the hanger.’ [TRPS.09]

41. i-vatago ɛ i-kɔ a-gli e yo

CM-picture=DET SM.SG-hang CM-wall=DET skin ‘The picture hangs on the wall.’ [TRPS.44]

42. debleku ɔ-kɔ a-gu cloud SM.SG-hang CM-top ‘Cloud is above.’ [TRPS 36]

43. flagi e ɔ-kɔ a-guFlag=DET SM.SG-hang CM-top ‘The flag hangs up.’

44. a-kɔ flagi e 3PLU-hang flag=DET‘They hang the flag.’

4.2.3 tɔ [‘fix’]

tɔ is used to describe situations in which a figure is attached to a referent object so firmly that it will be difficult to remove. ‘A handle on a door’


and ‘writing on a dress’ are typical examples of situations for which tɔ is used. t ɔ suggests that the figure is pasted on the entity by someone. For example, some speakers describe a fruit on a tree with the verb tɔ, signaling that the fruit is somehow fixed on the tree, as shown in (46). Some speakers use kɔ [‘hang’] with a focus on the suspended nature of the fruit on the tree. (45), (46) and (47) exemplify the use of tɔ:

45. u-rime e ɔ-tɔ bagi=e yoCM-handle=DET SM.SG-fix bag=DET skin‘The handle is on the bag.’[TRPS.66]

46. ɔyɔebinyigo e ɔ-tɔ ɔ-yɔ a yoCM-fruit=DET SM.SG-fix CM-tree=DET skin‘The fruit is in the tree’ [TPRS 27]

47. u-zi-da-iva ɔ-tɔ u-zi é yo CM-door-open-thing SM.SG-fix CM-door=DET skin ‘The handle is fixed on the door.’[TRPS.61]

4.2.4 tsi [‘sit’]

The locative verb tsi [‘sit’] is used for figures on their base supported from below. A good example of figures for which tsi is used is those that are able to support themselves, like humans and animals. (48), (49) and (50) illustrate this:

48. ɔ-satsibi e o-tsi ɔ-dza yoCM-man.young=DET SM.SG-sit CM-fire skin‘The young man sits near the fire’ [TPRS 38]

49. A-ndɔ a o-tsi u-kplɔ a etsiCM-cat=DET SM.SG-sit CM-table=DET under‘The cat sits under the table.’ [TRPS.31]

50. A-dzexi e o-tsi ɔ-yɔ vutsi e nu

CM-owl=DET SM.SG-sit CM-tree.hole=DET nu con taining region ‘The owl is in the hole in the tree trunk.’ [TRPS.67]

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4.2.5 ye [‘stand’]

ye [‘stand’] is used for living things that have to support themselves on a horizontal surface because they are designed or naturally made to be able to stay in a vertical position. Human beings and some animals stand in a vertical position. Inanimate nouns that have vertical dimension, for example, houses and trees, are also perceived to be ‘standing’ when they are in a vertical position. In the case of a pole, ye [‘stand’] is used to describe it when it is upright on a horizontal surface. The sentences (51), (52), and (53) are illustrations of the use of these expressions.

51. ɔ-yɔ a o-ye u-kpo e yoCM-tree=DET SM.SG-stand CM-mountain=DET skin ‘The tree stands on the hill.’ [TRPS.17]

52. u-tsa a o-ye ɔ-fafegu ɛ nuCM-house=DET SM.SG –stand CM-fence=DET in‘The house is inside the fence’[TRPS.60]

53. ɔ-sa a o-ye u-tsa a zugbo CM-man=DET SM.SG-stand CM-building=DET head‘The man stands on the top of the building.’ [TRPS.34]

4.2.6 gbɛ [‘lean’]

gbɛ [‘lean’] is used for Figures that do not stand straight but rather touch the upper part of the reference object while also being supported at the base. A ladder is a classic example because it can not stand without resting part of its body on a wall or a fence. Yo [‘skin’] is the postposition that is usually selected when gbɛ [‘lean’] is used. (54) and (55) attest to this:

54. n-tsɔ 𝓭i ɔ-gbɛ a-gli=e yo CM-ladder SM.SG –lean CM-wall=DET skin‘The ladder leans against the wall.’ [TRPS.58]

55. ɔ-yɔ a ɔ-gbɛ fesri e yoCM-stick=DET SM.SG-lean window=DET skin‘The stick leans on the window.’


4.2.7 gbo [‘be placed’]

When a Figure is partially on its base and it does not lean on anything, the verb gbo is used. This verb is sometimes used for the Figure, for example a bottle, when it makes an acute angle with the Ground as if it were lying on the ground. (56) is an example.

56. tumpa o-gbo na e-gbi=e tsu bottle SM.SG-be. placed on CM-stone=DET upper surface‘A bottle lies on the stone.’[PV.26]

If the figure is neither standing nor leaning a Serial Verb Construction is used in order to give an accurate description of the situation. The Serial Verb Construction comprises mainly two verbs; the initial verb takes the agreement marker and no word comes in between the two verbs. The initial verb, gbo [‘be placed’], describes the manner of the location and the second verb, gbɛ [‘lean’], concentrates on the position in (57) and (58), as kpɔ [‘lie’] does in (59).

57. ɔ-yɔ tsi ɛ o-gbo gbɛ ɔ-yɔ=a yoCM-Stick=DET SM.SG-be. placed lean CM-tree=DET skin‘The stick leans against the tree.’ [PV.01]

58. a-futa druiyi o-gbo gbɛCM-Cloth red SM.SG-be.placed leana-kɔntsi=ɛ nuCM-basket=DET in‘red cloth is leaning in the basket.’[PV 02]

59. tumpa ɔ-kpɛ o-gbo kpɔ bottle AM-one SM.SG-be.placed lie o-yɔtsigbo= e tsuCM-stump=DET on‘One bottle lies on the stump.’ [PV.26]

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A figure may lie down in a straight line or across a horizontal surface. When it lies straight, a compound dzɔ kpɔ [‘straight lie’], which comprises a word borrowed from Ewe dzɔ [‘straight’] and the Logba word kpɔ [‘lie’], is used to describe the position of the figure. dzu ye [‘straight stand’] is used when the figure is standing straight. The vowel in dzu should be a half open back vowel /ɔ/ but I suggest that this has changed to /u/ partly because of the [ATR] vowel harmony in Logba. Example (60) shows the use of dzu ye.

60. ɔ-yɔtsi-bi ɛ o-dzu-ye i-tite CM-stick-small=DET SM.SG-straight 3SG-standɔ-yɔtsigbo-e tsuCM-stump=DET on‘The small stick is standing straight on the stump.’ [PV.38]

4.2.8 tsoga [‘lie across’]

The expression tsoga [‘lie across’] is borrowed from Ewe and used to describe a figure that is stretched or situated over the ground or some other surface from one side to the other. It may be a stick lying over the mouth of the basket or a log on a path or a road stretching from one side to the other. (61) is an example,

61. i-𝓭at a o-tsoga memgba CM-spoon=DET SM.SG-lie.across bowlnu containing.region‘The spoon lies across the bowl.’

4.2.9 glɛ [‘tie’]

The verb glɛ [‘tie’] is used to describe a situation in which a rope or any rope-like figure, e.g., thread or twine, is used around an object, including a human being, as in TRPS 42 glɛ belet [‘wear belt’] demonstrated in (62).

62. u-dzi ɛ ɔ -glɛ beletCM-girl=DET SM.SG-tie belt‘The girl ‘ties’ belt.’ [TPRS 42]


In contexts involving things worn on the body the locative verb is at times not used. Instead, a verb meaning ‘to wear’ is used. Examples are (63) and (64):

63. i-na a ɔ-f ɛ i-shikpeCM-person=DET SM.SG-wear CM-ring ‘The person wears a ring.’

64. ɔ-sa a o-bua kutoCM-man=DET SM.SG-put.on hat‘The man put on a hat.’

As these are part of a common cultural knowledge, I suggest that native speakers feel it is redundant using a locative construction in which the Ground will be specified. So in (63) where the ring is worn, the Ground is not stated and in (64) kuto [‘head’] is not in the sentence as the location of the hat. Things worn on the body are therefore described with a verb fɛ [‘to wear’] or bua [‘put on’].

4.2.10 bata [‘wind round’]

The verb bata [‘wind round’] denotes a situation in which a rope or thread is passed round an object repeatedly. Example (65) describes a rope around a stump.

65. ɔ-ŋkpa ɔ-bata fɛ CM-rope SM.SG-wind.round on ɔ-yɔtsigbo e yoCM-stump=DET skin‘The rope is wound round the stump’ [PV 3]

4.2.11 dzi [‘tie firmly’]

When a Figure is fastened firmly with a rope or a string so that it cannot be easily removed dzi [‘tie firmly’] is used. In (66) dzi is used in a BLC but the adpositional phrase is without a postposition.

66. ɔ-ŋkpa o-dzi fɛ ɔ-yɔtsigbo eCM-rope SM.SG-tie.firmly on CM-stump=DET‘A rope is tied round the stump’ [TPRS 55]

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1. Summary

The paper presents Basic Locative Constructions in Logba. The subject NP in the locative construction refers to the Figure. Either le [‘be located verb’] or the eleven positional verbs in this construction express the relation of the Figure to the Ground. The postpositional phrase which follows the locative verb immediately refers to the Ground and the postposition itself contributes greatly by showing how the Figure is located on the Ground. It is noted that the locative and the positional verbs are obligatory in the BLC. It is however possible to omit prepositions and postpositions. One observation is that for culturally loaded events, the structure given is either a reduced version of the BLC or a subject NP followed immediately by a property verb. In some expressions referring to adornment of the body, fɛ [‘to wear’] or bua [‘put on’] is the verb to which most native speakers readily resort. In the reduced version of the BLC the Ground is omitted because it is redundant. For example, the answers that the where search question elicited for TPRS 10, a ring on a finger, TPRS 5, a hat on the head and TPRS 69, a ring in the ear are not locative constructions. Also, a locative construction involving a two-verb SVC was used as response to the where search question in which the initial verb helps the second verb, V2, which is also the locative verb, by providing information about the manner in which the Figure is located. In addition, the semantics of the twelve verbs that are used in locative constructions are discussed.


Abbreviations

ADR Addressive AM Agreement marker[+ATR] Advanced Tongue root [-ATR] Unadvanced Tongue rootCM Class marker DET DeterminerFOC Focus marker FUT FutureHAB Habitual IND Independent

NEG Negative PLU PluralPRSPROG Present progressive PV Positional verbs

SG Singular SM Subject markerTRPS Topological relation

picture seriesV1 Initial verb in SVC

V2 Second verb in SVC 1SG First person singular2SG Second person singular 3SG Third person singular1PLU First person plural 2PLU Second person plural3PLU Third person plural

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References

Ameka, Felix K. David Wilkins and Carlien de Witte. 1999. Picture Series for Positional Verbs: Eliciting the verbal component in locative descriptions. In David Wilkins (ed). ‘Manual’ for the 1999 field season. (For the Language and Cognition Group) Nijmegen: MPI for Psycholinguistics. 48-56.

Ameka, Felix K. & James Essegbey. 2006. Elements of the grammar of space in Ewe. In Stephen C. Levinson and David Wilkins (eds). Grammars of space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 359-398.

Bowerman, Melissa & Eric Pederson. 1993. Topological Relations Pictures Series. In Eve Danziger and Deborah Hill (eds). Manual for the space stimuli kit 1.2. Nijmegen: Max Planck Institut für Psycholinguistik, Cognitive Anthropology Research Group. 40-50.

Dorvlo, Kofi. 2008. A Grammar of Logba (Ikpana). Landelijke Onderzoekschool Taalwetenschap Utrecht: The Netherlands.

Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. History and present status of the Kwa problem. In M. Houis. G. Manessy, and S. Sauvageot (eds). Actes du second colloque international de linguistique negro-africaine. Dakar: Universite de Dakar and West African Languages Survey. 215-217.

Heine, Bernd. 1968. Die Verbreitung und Gliederung der Togorestsprachen. Berlin:Dietrich Reimer.

Levinson, Stephen C. & David P. Wilkins (eds). 2006. Grammars of space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Talmy, Leonard. 1983. How language structures space. In Herbert Pick & Linda Acredolo (eds). Spatial orientation: Theory research and application. New York: Plenum Press. 225-320.

Westermann, Diedrich & Margaret Bryan. 1952. Languages of West Africa. Handbook of African Languages 2. London: Oxford University Press for International African Institute.


Volume 22 (2011)

129Issah

Reflexive Pronouns in DagbaniSamuel Alhassan Issah1

Abstract

This paper examines reflexivization in Dagbani, a Gur language spoken in Northern Ghana. The data are examined within the parameter of co-referentiality and antecedence. I argue that reflexives are formed by suffixing the reflexivizer, maŋa, meaning ‘self’, to the possessive pronominal. The pronominal varies in form depending on the singularity or plurality of the antecedent. I minimally compare reflexive pronouns with pronouns within the Binding Theory and observe that whilst pronouns are free within their domains, reflexives are governed within the clausal domain. I conclude that anaphors and pronouns of Dagbani match the principles of the Government and Binding theory.

1: Introduction

The main focus of this paper is to examine the morpho-syntactic features of Dagbani reflexive pronouns. Genetically, Dagbani belongs to the South Western Oti-Volta central Gur languages spoken in Northern Ghana (Bendor-Samuel, 1989; Naden, 1988). Though Dagbani has a continuum of geographical/regional dialects, three major dialects stand out: Tomosili (the Western dialect) which is spoken in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital and its environs, and Nayahali (the eastern dialect), spoken in and around Yendi, the seat of the political head of Dagboŋ, that is the land that is occupied by the Dagbamba, and Nanuni spoken around Bimbilla, that is the Nanumba districts and south of Yendi. Hudu (2010) and Abdul-Rahman (2005) both argue that Nanuni be seen as a dialect of Dagbani rather than a distinct language. Dialectal differences between these two major dialects are mainly at the phonological and lexical levels. The canonical word order of Dagbani is SVO.

The data used in this paper is based on the Tomosili dialect of the Dagbani language. Though Dagbani is a tonal language, for purposes of this paper 1 Samuel Alhassan Issah teaches at the University of Education, Winneba.


I do not mark tone because it does not make a difference to the problem addressed.

Reflexives are typologically grouped into two: those that are referred to as long distance anaphors, as with the Norwegian ‘seg’, and the Dutch ‘zich’. There are also those reflexives which are standardly viewed as local such as the English ‘himself. The “local” anaphors are anaphors that have strictly local antecedents, in that they receive their reference from strictly local syntactic arguments while “long distance” anaphors are anaphors which have non-local antecedents. They are said to have non-local antecedents because they can take an antecedent outside the local domain. It is argued by Faltz (1977) and Pica (1985, 1987), that when reflexives are complex expressions, then, they are universally assumed to be local, whereas the simplex reflexives as with the Norwegian ‘seg’, are generally the long-distance type of reflexives.

Different languages employ different strategies to form reflexive pronouns. For example, in a language like English, reflexives are a combination of possessive pronouns and the reflexivizer “self” as in “myself” “herself” or “ourselves”, or a combination of the accusative pronoun and the reflexivizer as in “himself”. I shall show that Dagbani has bimorphemic reflexives. Based on the observation that the accusative form of the pronominal does not participate in the formation of reflexive pronouns, I make a tentative proposal that accusative forms of reflexive pronouns might be simply absent in Dagbani. Dagbani thus shares the same features with a language like Buli where the reflexive pronouns are also made up of a suffix reflexivizer and the possessive pronoun as in wa-dek, “myself” and ba-dek “themselves” (Agbedor 2002). Dagbani also differs from other languages such as Norwegian and Dutch which have simple reflexives in that they are made up of monomorphemic items. For instance Norwegian has ‘seg’ as its reflexive pronoun whilst Dutch has ‘zich’

2: The Binding Theory.

Binding Theory deals with the distribution of pronominal and reflexive pronouns in languages. The canonical Binding Theory of Chomsky (1981,

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1986) groups nominal expressions into three basic categories: (i) anaphors (reflexives), (ii) pronominals, and (iii) R-expressions. Anaphors (also called reflexive pronouns) are characterized as expressions that have no inherent capacity for reference. Anaphors also refer to reciprocals. According to Haegeman (1994:228), the three principles that govern the interpretation of the established nominal expressions are referred to as the binding theory. Hence, anaphors must invariably depend on some other expression within a sentence for their interpretation. The expression on which the anaphor depends for its meaning is called the antecedent. The structural relation between a reflexive and its antecedent is accounted for using c-command. Haegeman (1994:212) claims that a node A c-commands a node B if (1) A does not dominate B; (2) B does not dominate A; and (3) the last branching node dominating A also dominates B.

On the other hand, he claims that the pronominal is an abstract feature representation of the NP that may be referentially dependent but must always be free within a given syntactic domain. It could be deduced from these definitions that an anaphor (reflexive pronoun) must obligatorily have a local or a “nearby” antecedent within a given syntactic unit to which it will refer, whilst a pronominal may, but need not necessarily have its antecedent within the same syntactic domain. Adger (2004:54), on what he calls the co-referentiality hypothesis argues that for “two expressions to be co-referential, they must bear the same phi-features”. According to Adger (2004), “phi-features” is a linguistic term used to describe the semantic features of person, number and gender encoded in such lexical categories as nouns and pronouns. This, he further argues, is a “kind of general interface rule that relates syntactic features to semantic interpretation”. Compare the English sentences in (1) and (2):

1. Mandeeyaj admires himselfj

2. Suhuyinii destroyed himj

These examples illustrate the (syntactic) distributional difference between an anaphor (a reflexive) and a pronominal. In sentence (1) for instance, himself can only refer to its antecedent, Mandeeya, which is found in the same local domain of the clause. In sentence (2) however, the pronominal


him is free within the clausal domain as it cannot refer to Suhuyini. It could therefore only have some element that is not within the clause as its antecedent, and not Suhuyini since pronouns are free within the clausal domain in which they are found. The fact that himself can only refer to an entity already mentioned in the discourse, and him can refer to an entity outside the clausal domain, means that whilst reflexives are referentially dependent, pronouns are not referentially dependent. The abstract features of reflexives and pronominals make four major distinctions of NP, three of which are overt and the other non-overt. The three NP types, which include anaphors, pronouns, and R-expressions, are not syntactic primitives since they can further be broken down into small components as shown below.

Lexical reflexives [+reflexives, -pronominal]: these are reflexives and reciprocals, e.g., himself, each other.

Pronouns [-anaphor, + pronominal]: these are basically pronouns.

e.g., he, she

Name (full NP) [-anaphor, -pronominal]: names e.g., Samuel, Bonyeli, Jeremy.

PRO [+anaphor, -pronominal]

These three overt NP types are accounted for using principles called Binding Principles. Principle A of these principles is concerned with reflexives and reciprocals, Principle B deals with pronominals. Principle C on the other hand concerns itself with names or what have been called full NPs. In Haegeman (1994:228-229), the binding principles which govern the syntactic distribution of overt NP types are stated as follows:

Principle A

An anaphor must be bound in its governing category.

Principle B

A pronoun must be free in its governing category.

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Principle C

An R-expression must be free everywhere.

These three principles govern the distributional properties of pronominals and reflexive pronouns in languages.

3: The morpho-syntax of Dagbani reflexive pronouns

Once it is observed that Dagbani reflexive pronouns are a combination of pronouns and the –maŋa morpheme, there may be justification for one to assume that in the language, the pronoun prefixes of reflexives are lexically pre-specified as possessive. This explains why it is not possible to form or generate reflexives using the accusative forms of the pronominals. Considering the fact that the nominative and possessive pronominal forms are morphologically the same (as will be seen in table 1), it may seem rather tasking to tell which form of the pronominal is suffixed to the reflexivizer. My proposal that the attached pronominal is the possessive and not the nominative form is based on the fact that cross-linguistically, nominative forms of pronominals do not seem to be specified for reflexive pronouns (cf. English: *Iself, *Heself, *youself, *sheself etc). I argue that Dagbani contrasts with English in this light since it is not possible to form reflexives in Dagbani via the suffixation of the accusative pronoun to the reflexivizer forms as in English- “himself”, which is made up of an accusative pronominal “him” and the reflexivizer, ‘self’. An insight into the pronominal system of Dagbani will help give a better insight into the reflexive pronominal system.

Table 1: Dagbani pronominal systemNominative case Accusative case Genitive case

Person singular plural singular plural Singular plural1st m,n,ŋ Ti Ma ti m,n,ŋ ti2nd a Yi A ya A yi3rd o bɛ O ba O bɛ

Critical readers will observe from table 1 that, the first person plural and the third person singular pronominals do not make a morphological


distinction between the nominative and the accusative plural forms. The third person plural pronominal and the second person singular and plural pronominal, however, do make a morphological distinction between the nominative and accusative plural forms.

As already mentioned, there is a tight relationship between the pronominal and the reflexive system of Dagbani. This is because the reflexives of Dagbani are complex (bimorphemic) expressions which are formed via the suffixation of a reflexivizer -maŋa meaning ‘self’ to the possessive or genitive form of the pronominal as shown in table 2. We also observe in this table that attempts to suffix the – maŋa morpheme to the accusative form of the pronominal yields an ungrammatical form.

Table 2: Reflexive pronouns in Dagbani Possessive pronouns suffix

reflexiziverreflexive pronoun

n/m/ŋ- “my” -maŋa m -maŋa “myself” *ma-maŋa o-“his/her” - maŋa o- maŋa “himself/herself” a-“your” (singular) - maŋa a- maŋa “yourself” ti- “our” - maŋa ti- maŋa “ourselves”

b-“their” -maŋa b-maŋa “themselves” *ba-maŋa

yi-“your” (plural) - maŋa yi-maŋa “yourselves” *ya-maŋa

I argue that Dagbani reflexives manifest the cross-linguistic syntactic distribution associated with reflexive pronouns as they do not occur as semantic subjects of sentences. Based on this syntactic property, when they occur as the semantic subjects of sentences, the resulting structure will be ungrammatical. In the data that follow, I illustrate the distributional properties of the reflexive pronouns in Dagbani.

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3. *m-maŋa ku-ri bi-hi maa pam1stsg-self kill-imperf child-pl def inten

4. Abuj sa ku-Ø o-maŋaj Abu tdp kill-perf 3sg-self “Abu killed himself yesterday”

5. *Abuj sa tu-Ø Abuj Abu tdp insult-perf Abu

6. *Bɛ-maŋa tu-ri bɛ-maŋa3pl-self insult-imperf 3pl-self

From examples (3) to (6), we observe that (3), (5) and (6) are ungrammatical. The ungrammaticality of (3) and (6) is based on the fact that reflexive pronouns have been used as semantic subjects of those two sentences. However, reflexives are known, cross linguistically, to pick up their reference from an old syntactic element as their antecedents. They however, defy this syntactic expectation, hence their ungrammaticality. Note also that the ungrammaticality of (5) is based on the fact that Abu has Abu as its antecedent as seen in the co-indexization, which is not allowed by the binding principles. However, the data in (4) is grammatical because o-maŋa has Abu as its antecedent with which it agrees in number and person. Consider (7) and (8) below for further explication on the distribution of Dagbani reflexives:

7. Bɛj sa tu-Ø bɛ-maŋaj sɔhala3pl tdp insult-perf 3pl-self yesterday“They insulted themselves yesterday”

8. Bɛ- maŋa ka b sa tu-Ø sɔhala3pl-self foc 3pl tdp insult-perf yesterday“It was they themselves (that) they insulted yesterday”.

Example (7) is also grammatical since the anaphoric expression bɛ-maŋa “themselves” has bɛ “they” as its antecedent and the two share phi-features


in terms of number. The grammaticality of sentence (8) indicates that, the prohibition on the syntactic occurrence of reflexive pronouns is not on their being in subject positions, but on their being semantic subjects of the sentences as in (6) and (3). For instance, in (8), although bɛ-maŋa is in the subject position, it is not a subject; rather, it is the object that has been moved from the in-situ position to the sentence initial position or left periphery position. Perhaps, the reflexive pronoun being in that syntactic slot is just to fulfil the Extended Projection Principle (EPP) which has it that every sentence must have a subject. By this observation, I make the hypothesis that Dagbani reflexives can occur in subject position, once they are syntactic, but not semantic subjects. If this were not possible in the language, then example (8) above should have been ungrammatical.

I further submit based on evidence from the data that, it is possible to have non-subject oriented reflexive pronouns in Dagbani. When a reflexive pronoun is a non-subject oriented reflexive, such a pronoun will have another syntactic element as its reference rather than the subject of the sentence. This observation seems to tally with the generalization that one usually finds in the generative literature claiming that monomorphemic reflexive pronouns are subject oriented (and can be long-distance bound) whereas bimorphemic ones are strictly clause-bound and not subject oriented (Reinhart & Reuland 1993). Based on the current claim that Dagbani has bi-morphemic reflexives, it is no surprise that one finds non-subject oriented reflexive pronouns in Dagbani. The same is observed in Ewe and Buli (Agbedor 2002). The Dagbani example in (9) below explicates the claim about the non-subject oriented nature of reflexive pronouns in Dagbani.

9. Ni yɛli-Ø Bonyelij o-maŋaj yɛla1stsg talk-perf Bonyeli 3sg-self matters“I have spoken to Bonyeli about himself/herself”.

We see in (9) that though the subject of the sentence is N, meaning “I”, it is not the antecedent of the reflexive pronoun, o-maŋa [“himself/hersef”]. It does have a no-subject reference which is Bonyeli. This situation also pertains in English. When the reflexive pronoun in English has a non-subject reference or antecedent, there is usually an oblique subject in

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cases where a reflexive could be assumed to be non-subject oriented, as in (10) below:

10. Wej spoke to Theresak about herselfk.Though we is the subject of the sentence, the reflexive “herself” definitely does not refer to we, but to Theresa, which is not the subject of the sentence.

4. Dagbani pronouns, reflexive pronouns and Binding principles

In this sub-section, I investigate how the binding principles A and B capture the distribution of pronouns and reflexives in Dagbani. It will be recalled that principle A deals with the distribution of reflexive pronouns whilst principle B deals with the distribution of pronouns.

11. Bonayoi tu-ri o-maŋaBonayo insult- imperf 3sg-self“Bonayo is insulting/insults himself”

12. Bonayoi tu-ri oj Bonayo insult-imperf 3sg“Bonayo is insulting/insults him/her”

13. Bi-hij maa tu-Ø b-maŋajChild-pl def insult-perf 3pl-self“The children have insulted themselves”

14. Paɣabai maa sa ku-Ø baj/*i sɔhalaWoman-pl def tdp kill-perf 3pl adjun“The women killed them yesterday”

In sentence (11), it is clear that the sentence is grammatical as the reflexive has its antecedent within the same clause (which, as observed above, is the subject of the clause). In (12) and (14) however, it is seen that the pronominal o meaning ‘him/her’ and ba meaning ‘them’ can only refer to entities that are not within the same clause. It is seen from the co-indexization in (14) that if ba, meaning ‘them’, should have paɣaba maa, meaning ‘the women’, as its antecedent, the resulting structure will


be ungrammatical. I assume that the entity that the pronominal refers to within the syntactic system could be an entity that has already been mentioned in the discourse, but does not necessarily have to be in the same local or clausal domain. This is what calls for the cross-linguistic generalisation that pronouns are free within their syntactic domain.

The data given so far seems to indicate that reflexive pronouns and pronouns in Dagbani perfectly match the behavior predicted by principles A and B of the Government and Binding theory. All the data I have dealt with are simple sentences and thus may not provide enough basis for making a generalization on the behavior of reflexive pronouns and pronouns. I will therefore look at complex sentences as well to help ascertain the behavior of reflexives and pronouns in relation to binding principles:

15. [Bɛnitichei mi [ni Fatij tu-ri oi/k]Bɛnitiche know that Fati insult-imperf 3sg“Bɛnitiche knows that Fati insults/is insulting him/her”

16. [Bɛnitichei yɛli-ya [ni oi/j bi bɔ-ri Fati]Bɛnitiche say-perf that s/he neg want-imperf Fati“Bɛnitiche has said that s/he does not want Fati”

17. Babai yɛli-ya [ni Mikashinij tu-Ø oi/k/*j]Baba say-perf that Mikashini insult-perf 3sg “Baba said that Mikashini has insulted him/her”.

In sentence (15), it is observed that the pronominal item, o is free in its minimal domain. Accordingly, it is observed from the co-indexization that it is possible for the pronominal to refer to the subject of the independent clause, which is Bɛnitiche, or to an item labeled k which is an item not mentioned within the clausal structure or domain. The same explanation holds for sentence (16) where the pronominal o, meaning “s/he”, could refer to the subject of the independent clause, Bɛnitiche, or to any item that is outside the clausal structure. These sentences are nevertheless grammatical as they do not defy the binding principle B, which asserts that a pronominal and its potential antecedent may be found within the same clausal structure and that it is also possible for the

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pronoun to refer to an entity outside the sentence. The example in (17) also suggests that the object pronoun o is free within its domain. We observe from the co-indexation that the pronoun o could have the subject of the independent clause, Baba, as its antecedent. It could however also have as its antecedent an item not mentioned within the sentence which is labeled as k. However, it will be ungrammatical for the pronoun o to have the subject of the embedded clause, Mikashini as its antecedent.

This observation leads me to tentatively postulate that the pronominal in Dagbani o of the complex sentence is ambiguous since it can refer to the subject of the independent clause within which it is found or to an unmentioned entity, that is, an entity that is found within the clausal structure. Discussing the distributional properties of the pronominal in Ewe, Agbedor (2002:151) argues that Ewe is able to deal with this kind of ambiguity in the pronominal by using a special type of pronoun called a logophoric pronoun. Clements (1975:142) is of the view that the logophoric pronoun is a special pronoun form that is used to indicate reference to the person whose speech, thoughts and perceptions are reported. This pronoun thus invariably has the subject of the main clause as its reference. Consider these data from Agbedor (2002:150) which clearly show the distributional pattern of the logophoric pronoun and the pronoun in Ewe.

18. John nya be Ama lɔ yeJohn know that Ama loves LOG“Johni knows that Ama loves himi”.

19. John nya be ye- lɔ AmaJohn know that LOG-love Ama“Johni knows that hei loves Ama”.

20. John nya be Ama lɔ -e John know that Ama loves-3sg “Johni knows that Ama loves himj”.

21. John nya be e-lɔ Ama John know that 3sg-love Ama“John knows that he loves Ama”.


In the Ewe data taken from Agbedor (2002:150), we see that there is no ambiguity in the sentences unlike their English or Dagbani counterparts which will invariably be ambiguous. In English and Dagbani, it is possible for him to refer to either the subject of the sentence or to an entity which is not within the clausal structure (an oblique object). In Ewe, however, such ambiguity is avoided as Agbedor (2002) argues using the logophoric pronoun ye which he claims could only have one reference, and that is the subject of the main clause. He further postulates that unlike the logophoric pronoun, the Ewe pronoun can only pick up its reference from outside the entire sentence. He posits, based on this observation that the Ewe pronoun and logophoric pronouns are in complementary distribution. Data used in this paper suggest that Dagbani does not have a technique of dealing with this kind of ambiguity. I therefore conclude that Dagbani, like most other Ghanaian languages, does not have a logophoric pronoun.

Cross-linguistic studies of reflexives seem to suggest that a reflexive picks up its reference from a local subject NP. According to Haegeman (1994: 192) “the NP on which a reflexive is dependent for its interpretation is the antecedent of the reflexive”. Haegeman (ibid: 207) further argues that we use co-indexation to indicate that a reflexive and its antecedent have the same referent and that the reflexive and its antecedent must agree with respect to the nominal features of person, number and gender. These prescriptions on reflexives give rise to issues of agreement and locality constraints on reflexives. However, the typological generalization that one finds in generative literature, including the work of Cole and Hermon (1998), Yang (1983) and Vikner (1985), is that monomorphemic reflexives are subject-oriented and can be long-distance bound, whereas bimorphemic ones are strictly clause-bound and are not subject-oriented. I thus argue based on evidence from the data presented in this paper, that Dagbani reflexives can be used as genuine evidence in favour of this typological claim. The data in (22-25) will further indicate that Dagbani pronouns may also function as antecedents of reflexives.

22. [*Bɛi tɛhi-ya [ni Maryj je bɛ-maŋai]

3pl think-perf that Mary like-not 3pl-self

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23. [Oi yɛli-ya [ni Abuj ku-Ø o-maŋaj] 3sg say-perf that Abu kill-perf 3sg-self. “S/he has said that Abu has killed himself”.

24. [*Oi tɛhi-ya [ni Abuj ku-Ø o-maŋai] 3sg think-perf that Abu kill 3sg-self

25. [Oi yɛli-ya [ni bi-hij maa tu-Ø b -maŋaj]

3sg say-perf that child-plu def insult-perf 3pl-self “S/he has said that the children have insulted themselves”.

We observe from these data that sentence (22) is ungrammatical. The ungrammaticality of this sentence is caused by the violation of the locality constraint imposed on reflexives. If the antecedent and its referent were found in the same local domain, then the constraint would not have been violated, thereby resulting in ungrammaticality. We observe however that sentence (23) is grammatical. The grammaticality of this sentence is borne out of the fact that the locality constraint is not defied. This is because the reflexive o-maŋa “himself” has the subject of the embedded clause Abu as its antecedent. These two arguments, Abu and o-maŋa are however found in the same local domain. When the reflexive and its antecedent are in the same local domain, the reflexive is said to be clause bound.

The sentence in (24) on the other hand is ungrammatical. The ungrammaticality of this sentence is caused by the fact that the reflexive pronoun o-maŋa “himself or herself and its antecedent o “s/he” are too far away from each other in the sentence structure; whilst o “s/he” is found within the independent clause, o-maŋa “himself or herself” is found within the dependent clause.

A tentative conclusion could then be drawn, based on these data provided, that the locality constraint imposed on bimorphemic reflexives is valid for Dagbani reflexives since defying that condition results in the formation/generation of ungrammatical sentences.

It is then shown that Dagbani is like English in that the reflexives are clause bound. Thus, the syntactic behaviour of Dagbani reflexives patterns


with the cross linguistic generalization that languages with complex or bimorphemic reflexives are strictly clause-bound. In the data that follow, adapted from Cole and Hermon (1998:57), we see the contrast between the syntactic properties of mononmorphemic reflexives and bimorphemic reflexives as typologically argued.

26. Zhangsani renwei Lisij zhudao Wangwu xihuan zijii/j/k Zhangsan thinks Lisi knows Wangwu likes self ‘Zhangsan thinks Lisi knows Wangwu likes him/himself’

We see from the data in (26) that Ziji could have a reference that is non-local, that is the possibility that it can have Zhangsan or even Lisi as its antecedent. The same property of non-local reference is not available for Dagbani reflexives as it has so far been observed from the data examined. This seems to suggest that the reflexive pronouns of Mandarian Chinese should be non-local. The same property is reported of the reflexive pronouns of Russian which are also argued to be non-local as argued by Rappaport (1986).

The same non-local syntactic property has been associated with monomorphemic reflexives in languages like Danish. The data is adapted from Wayne (1996:193).

27. At Peteri bad Anne om [PROk at ringe til sigi] That Peteri asked Annk (for) at ring to selfi

Vikner (1985)From the data in (26) and (27), we see that in Mandarian Chinese and Danish, it is possible for the antecedent of the reflexives to be non-local. We see from these examples that the reflexive sig can have Peter as its antecedent, though the two are syntactically apart from each other. One common feature that runs across the data from Danish and Mandarian Chinese is the fact that the reflexives in both languages can have non-local antecedents. Both languages however have monomorphemic reflexives, as seen in their morphological composition. These data adapted from Cole and Hermon (1998:57) and Vikner (1985) cited in Wayne (1996:193), also provide a basis for a genuine argument in favour of the claim that Dagbani reflexives, which are morphologically complex (bimorphemic) reflexives, differ in their locality property.

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Also, it is a cross linguistic expectation that reflexives agree with their antecedents in number. Number is a feature of nouns that distinguish between singular and plural nouns. Since reflexives are not independent items in languages, Haegeman (1994:207) states that “the reflexive and its antecedent must agree with respect to their nominal features of person, gender, and number” in languages that have number agreement. A close look at the distribution of Dagbani reflexives suggests that the assumption on number agreement between an antecedent and its reflexive is valid for Dagbani, as in (28), (29), (30) and (31).

28. *Zaapayim tu-ri bɛ-maŋa Zaapayim insult-IMPERF 3pl-self

29. *A zu-Ø yi-maŋa 2sg steal-PERF 2pl-self

30. Yi zu-Ø yi-maŋa 2pl steal-PERF 2pl -self “You have stolen yourselves”.

31. Abu ŋme-Ø o-maŋa Abu knock 3sg-self “Abu has knocked himself”.

In (28), the ungrammaticality is borne out of the fact that there is a mismatch between the subject NP Zaapayim and the reflexive bɛ-maŋa “themselves” in terms of number. The reflexive bɛ-maŋa cannot have Zaapayim as its antecedent since the two do not agree in number. Zaapayim is a singular noun functioning as a subject of that sentence whilst bɛ-maŋa is a plural reflexive pronoun with its English equivalent as themselves. In example (29) too, we see that the second person singular pronoun a, “you” does not agree in number with yi-maŋa “yourselves” which is plural. The lack of number agreement between these two accounts for the ungrammaticality of example (29). Example (30) however is grammatical since the subject of the sentence, the second person plural pronominal yi [“they”] agrees in number with the reflexive yi-maŋa. In (31) too, we observe that Abu is the antecedent whilst o-maŋa is the reflexive. These two agree in terms


of number since the antecedent of the reflexive Abu is singular and the reflexive pronoun o-maŋa [“himself” or “herself”] is also singular. The agreement in number between the antecedent and the reflexive results in the grammaticality of the sentence.

5. Summary and conclusion

This paper has investigated the morpho-syntactic properties of Dagbani reflexive pronouns using the theoretical framework of co-referentiality and antecedence as an analytical tool. Morphologically, I argued that Dagbani has complex (bimorphemic) reflexives. I also investigated the syntactic distribution of Dagbani reflexive pronouns. It was discovered that Dagbani reflexives as cross-linguistically assumed, cannot work as semantic subjects. They could however work as syntactic subjects, particularly in ex-situ focus type constructions. Dagbani reflexive pronouns were also found to be bound within their local domain since they cannot have an antecedent outside their clausal domain.

I minimally compared the distributional properties of reflexives with those of pronominals and concluded that the two differ syntactically: pronouns are free within their syntactic domain whilst reflexives are clause-bound. I therefore came to the conclusion that essentially, reflexive pronouns and pronominals in Dagbani match the behavior predicted by principles A and B of the GB binding theory. Based on evidence from the data analyzed, I conclude that Dagbani patterns with the typological assumption in the generative literature that monomorphemic reflexives are subject oriented (and can be long-distance bound) whereas bimorphemic ones are strictly clause-bound and not subject oriented.

_________________________

iI am very much obliged to the anonymous referee for his or her comments and suggestions which have been duly integrated into the final version of this paper.

iiAbbreviations used in this paper include: tdp= time depth particles, perf=perfective, imperf=imperfective, plu=plural, def=definite, sg=singular, inten=intensifier 1st, 2nd, 3rd for first, second, and third person respectively, foc=focus, adjun=adjunct, neg=negative.

iii Though Dagbani does make a formal distinction between reflexives and reciprocals, I do not make a further discussion on reciprocals since the focus of this current paper is to discuss reflexive pronouns.

ivThe first person singular pronominal n assimilates to the place of articulation of the following segment.

v Note that the third person singular pronoun in Dagbani, o, “s/he” is not sensitive to gender since the language generally does not have gender as a prominent grammatical feature.

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Vikner, S. 1985. Parameters of Binder and Binding Category in Danish. Working Papers in Scandinavian Syntax. 23: 1-58.

Wayne, H. 1996. Binding Theory, Control and Pro. In Gert Webelhuth (ed). Government and Binding and the Minimalist Program. (Place of publication/publisher?) 180-240.

Yang, D.W. 1983. The Extended Binding Theory of Reflexives. Language Research 19:169-92

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Adverbial Placement in Ewe: A Role and Reference Grammar Perspective.

Ameyo S. Awuku1

Abstract:

This article looks at adverbial placement and interpretation in Ewe. It takes from English adverbial placement in which several positions are possible. Implicitly, it looks at what is the same compared to English and what is different when we look at adverbials in Ewe. The study looks at Ewe adverbials from a Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) perspective.

Key words: adverbials, placement/position, Ewe language, RRG.

Introduction

This study is a description of Ewe adverb placement and interpretation from an RRG (Role and Reference Grammar) perspective. Ewe is a member of the Kwa branch of Niger Congo languages. It is also described as a dialect of GBE (Capo 1982). GBE is a cluster of five languages; Aja, Ewe, Fon, Gen, and Phla-Phera. Adverbs or adverbials modify verbs and basically go with verbs. They can also modify adjectives (e.g. a beautifully radiant sun) or the whole sentence (e.g. Essentially, all the dead go to the same place). The term adverbial or adverb will be used irrespective of the syntactic form. The form of an adverbial can be a single adverb, an adverbial phrase, a noun phrase expressing this sense (e.g. I received the parcel this morning/that day/last holiday), a prepositional phrase expressing adverbial senses, or an adverbial clause. Some Ewe examples are as follows:

• a single adverb: blewu ‘slowly’; nyuie ‘well’; pepepe ‘exactly’• an adverbial phrase: nyuie ŋutɔ ‘very well’; nyuie kekeake ‘best of all’ • a noun phrase: egbe ŋdi [today morning] ‘this morning’• a prepositional phrase: le ŋdi me ‘in the morning’; le blema me

‘in former times’• an adverbial clause: ne suku me li o la…‘if school is not in session…’,

esime me va o la… ‘since you didn’t come…’ 1 Ameyo S. Awuku teaches at the University of Lome, Togo.


RRG theory holds that adverbs can occur anywhere on the tree representation and that the type of adverb and its position in the sentence will determine its interpretation. This is investigated in this article.

1. Adverbial description

Descriptively, there are several types of adverbials. There are adverbials of time, frequency, direction, place/space/location and manner, among others. Several other names for types of adverbials can be found in the literature (e.g., disjunct, conjunct, complement) depending on the function of the adverbial. Section 1.1 describes different adverbial types in Ewe. The list constitutes the main adverbials also attested in English (Van Valin & LaPolla,1997:27; Beare, K. (about.com); the blog, aggslanguage.wordpress.com).

1.1. Adverbials in Ewe

This section illustrates the equivalent types of adverbials found in the Ewe language. It is found that Ewe expresses the same adverbial notions or types as in English. However, some difference in terms of how the language uses forms to convey adverbial senses can be observed. Firstly, let us look at the adverbial types in Ewe (See also Fiaga, 1997:43-44).

i. Time adverbials (e.g., le eƒe me, “in the year”, le ŋdi me “in the morning”; tsa) “formerly”, enumake “at once”, etsↄ (si va yi), “yesterday”, etsↄ (si gbↄ na) “tomorrow”, nyitsↄ “last time/day before yesterday”

ii. Frequency adverbs (e.g., edziedzi “often”, gbeɖe ‘never’, kokooko/gbe sia gbe “always”)

iii. Directional adverbs (e.g., tu ta ɖe “head towards”, yina ɖe “going to/towards”, ƒu du yina ɖe “run to/towards” )

iv. Adverbs of Place, Space (e.g., le γeɖuƒe “at the dance”, le nusrɔƒe “at school”)

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v. Adverbs of location (e.g., ɖe ekplɔa dzi “on the table”, ɖe xixenu “outside”, fi sia fi “everywhere” dziƒo “upwards”, afima “there”)

vi. Adverbs of manner: (e.g., nublanuitɔe “mercifully”, fafatɔe “peacefully”, kabakaba “quickly”, pepepe “ex-actly”, piam/piampiam “hurriedly”)

vii. Degree/Intensifying adverbs OR emphasis (e.g., ŋutɔ “very”, alegbegbe “extremely/such a degree”, kloe “al-most”, fũu “plenty”)

viii. Aspectual Adverbials (e.g., ƒio “completely”, keŋkeŋ “totally”, tẽ/laa “continuously”, kpɔtɔ “continue”, madzudzɔmadzudzɔ “non-stop/continuously”)

ix. Adverbs of Modality (e.g., teŋu “can”, dze agbagba “try”, ɖola “have to”)

x. Evidentials: (e.g. ɖewohĩ “maybe”, vavɑ) “really/truly”, anye ne “it is possible that/it could be/possibly”, dzɔgbenyuietɔe “fortunately”, dzixɔsetɔe “hopefully/faith-fully”, nukunutɔe “surprisingly”, nuteƒekpɔtɔe “evident-ly”, tonametɔe “reportedly” edze ƒɑa be/dzenametɔe “it is obvious that/obviously”)

xi. Adverbials of reason (these are introduced by, e.g. elabena “because”, esime “as/since”, togbɔbe “despite the fact that“)

xii. Adverbials expressing condition (these are introduced by, e.g., ne … “if”, hafi “before”)

As said earlier, Ewe expresses the same adverbial notions or types as in English. However, the description shows some difference in terms of how the language uses forms to convey adverbial senses. For example, the


same prepositional form can occur in Ewe for different adverbial senses/types and the prepositional element itself can be expressed by disjunction. These are shown below (PROSP stands for Prospective).

1. a. Kofi yi le ŋdi- me. Time Kofi go in morning- inside

“Kofi went in the morning.”

b. Mie dogo le nufiala ƒe aƒe-me. Place we meet at teacher POSS house-inside“We met at the teacher’s house.”

c. Takpekpe-a me va-ge le wɔna-wo megbe. Time meeting-DET inside come-PROSP at deed-PL back “The meeting will take place after the deeds.”

Examples (1)a & b show the form le combined with me to convey both time and place adverbial meanings depending on use. In (1)c, the body part term megbe “back” expresses the sense of “after” in combination with the earlier prepositional form le. The expressions below are ungrammatical if one of the prepositional elements is dropped.

2. a. *Takpekpe-a me va-ge __wɔna-wo megbe. meeting-DET inside come-PROSP __ deed-PL back

b. *Takpekpe-a me va-ge le wɔna-wo __. meeting- DET inside come-PROSP at deed-PL __

Another characteristic of Ewe adverbials is the preponderance of reduplication in adverbial forms where English uses either a bare form or phrase or a morphological particle (to form/derive the adverb from an adjective).

3. a. Me yi-na suku gbe-sia-gbe/edziedzi. Frequency I go-HAB school day-every-day/occasionally/on and on

“I go to school everyday/I go to school occasionally.”

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b Wo yi-na agble ŋdiŋdi/ŋdi-sia-ŋdi. Time/Frequency they go-HAB farm morning-RED “They go to the farm in the mornings/every morning.”

c Kofi le zɔzɔ -m kabakaba. Manner Kofi BE walk.RED-PROG quick.RED “Kofi is walking very quickly.”

d. Wɔ kabakaba (kaba). do very quickly (quickly) “Do (it) very quickly (quickly).”

e. Mi-me wɔ -na ema gbeɖegbeɖe o. Frequency we-NEG do-HAB DEM never.RED NEG “We never do that.”

Finally, Ewe can take the nominalizer -t e to derive an adverbial sense, or form one directly from adjectives. Some examples are as follows:

4. a. E-wɔ -avukalẽ-tɔ e. Manner 3SG-do-dog brave-NOM “He/she fought bravely.”

b. [Dzɔ-gbe nyui-tɔ e la], dɔnɔ -a ga. Modality happen-day good-NOM TOP sick.person-DET heal “Fortunately, the sick (person) got healed.”

c. Kofi ƒu du sesie. Manner Kofi run race quickly.

‘Kofi ran quickly.’

In (4)a & b, the adverbial is derived from the adjectives glossed as “brave” and “good” respectively by affixing -tɔe. In (4)c, the attributive adjective sese/sesi is transformed into the adverbial sesié. The Modality in (4)b is Epistemic.


1.2 Role and Reference Grammar and Adverbials

Role and Reference Grammar is a non-derivational syntactic theory which takes the real surface word order of languages into account. This means that it does not derive surface structures from deep structures and therefore presents only a single level of clause structure. Again, intermediary levels are unavailable in RRG theory. This theory works within a framework called “the layered structure of the clause” which considers syntactic nodes as layers. The single representation of the sentence has two projections: Constituent projection and Operator projection. The Constituent projection shows a tree diagram from top down to the lexical items, while the Operator projection starts from the lexical items further down. The Operator projection shows only secondary modifiers of the predicate and the noun/nominal arguments. The Constituent projection distinguishes CORE elements from PERIPHERY elements. CORE elements are required and consist of the Predicate plus its arguments or nominal expressions. The PERIPHERY on the other hand consists of elements, often adjuncts, which merely provide additional information and therefore can be dropped without affecting the meaning of the sentence. See the example tree diagram below. Verb operator items (tense, illocutionary force, agreement etc.) and nominal modifiers (e.g. determiners/articles, adjectives, number marking) have been left out as they are irrelevant for this study.

SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE PERIPHERY


The SENTENCE is the topmost layer with the CLAUSE, CORE, NUC and PERIPHERY as other layers of the syntactic tree diagram. The adverbial items ‘assiduously’, and ‘yesterday’, are not subcategorized or required by the verb “worked at”. However, these add additional information to the whole sentence and so they occur in the PERIPHERY. The CORE plus the PERIPHERY constitute the CLAUSE.

RRG theory holds that adverbs can occur anywhere on the tree representation and that the type and position of the adverb will determine its interpretation. Therefore, if we consider the RRG tree above, an adverb can occur on any of the layers in English: it can occur on the layer SENTENCE (as LEFT DETACHED POSITION, abbreviated as LDP), on the layer CLAUSE, on the layer CORE, on the layer NUCLEUS or on the layer PERIPHERY. Basically, what it entails for an adverbial to be a NUC adverbial or CORE adverbial or other, is explained below (see also an example of a tree diagram at the end of the section which illustrates these different layers).

• NUC adverbial: modifies just the predicate or verbal element(s)• CORE adverbial: modifies the predicate and its immediate

arguments/ nominal elements• CLAUSE adverbial: modifies the CORE plus any additional

information, if any (this is information in the PERIPHERY)• SENTENCE adverbial: modifies the whole sentence, which can be

more than a simple clause. A sentence adverbial occurs in the LDP/RDP (RIGHT DETACHED POSITION).

The positions or placements discussed above are not haphazardly determined but depend on the type of adverbial. Consequently, we can match the different types of adverbials with their positions or layers for English as shown in the table below. This table will be compared with Ewe.

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Table 1: English Adverbial Type and Position-LayerNo. Adverbial Type Position-Layeri. Temporal adverbials

(e.g., during the year, in the afternoon), including adverbials such as “yesterday” and “tomorrow”

PERIPHERY

ii Space/Place (e.g., at the party, in the library

PERIPHERY

iii Location (with verbs of “put” e.g., on the table, anywhere, outside )

CORE

iv Aspectual adverbs (e.g., completely, continuously).

NUCLEUS or CORE (If it is a preverbal/with auxiliary elements, it is NUC, but after the verb, it is CORE)

v Directional adverbials (e.g., Mary is walking/running/driving to the new school)

CORE

vi. Manner adverbs (e.g., slowly, skillfully. “John skillfully painted/ decorated the wall/John painted/decorated the wall skillfully.” Position immediately before the verb or immediately after the DO).

CORE

vii Modality adverbials (Deontic. e.g., can, must, may)

CORE

viii Evidential adverbials (e.g., evidently, obviously, manifestly, clearly)

LDP, or RDP.

(They are left detached or right detached from the rest of the clause if they modify the whole sentence and are marked with a pause/comma)


ix Frequency adverbials (e.g., never, always)

NUCLEUSCORECLAUSE

xDegree/intensifying adverbials

(e.g., very badly reported)

NUCLEUSCORE

xi

Adverbials of reason (e.g., I was late because the bus arrived late/I was late and this, because the bus arrived late.

PERIPHERYRDP

xii

Adverbials of condition

(e.g., If you will return the book on time, I will let you have it./I will let you have the book, on condition that you return it on time.

LDP

RDP

Observe that adverbials of Place/Space (e.g., Mary ate the apple in the kitchen) are distinguished from Location/Locative adverbials (e.g., John put the books on the table/ everywhere/upstairs). This is because the locative adverbial is an oblique argument required by the predicate; it is not an adjunct modifier of the verb. Directional adverbials which specify an endpoint to verbs of motion (e.g., run, walk, drive) are also not PERIPHERY elements. Finally, notice that the table also distinguishes Modality and Evidential adverbials. Modality adverbials are of two types: root/deontic modality (e.g., can, may) and epistemic modality (e.g., probably, certainly, necessarily, possibly). The deontics occur nearer to the predicate and are resistant to movement because they can function syntactically as verbs. Evidentials provide speaker point of view in terms of whether the speaker is an eye witness within a scene or if he/she is merely reporting from hearsay/secondary source. Since deontic modality occurs nearer to the predicate, it occurs in the CORE, while the evidential, if detached from the clause, occurs further in the LDP or RDP (these layers branch from the SENTENCE layer). The occurrence of Frequency adverbials depends on the following: if they modify just the predicate, then NUC; if they modify the predicate plus argument(s), then they are in

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the CORE, but if they occur beyond the predicate, then they are elements of the CLAUSE.

The following tree diagram from Van Valin & LaPolla (1997: 166) illustrates the point that adverbs can occur anywhere on the layers. Only the Constituent projection has been illustrated, where “completely” is a NUC modifier showing the aspectual nature of the verb, “slowly” modifies the CORE elements and finally, “evidentially” modifiers the whole SENTENCE layer.

SENTENCE

LDP CLAUSE

CORE

ADV ARG NUC ARG ARG

ADV ADV PRED

NP V NP PP

Evidently, Leslie has slowly been completely immersing herself in the new language.

2. Adverbial Placement in Ewe and Interpretation

This section will discuss Ewe adverbial placement or positions in relation to the RRG treatment presented in section 1.2. The discussion will show that a different position of the same adverbial is also subject to a different interpretation.


In terms of position, Time adverbials in Ewe (just as in English) have a basic placement, namely, PERIPHERY. This position or placement has no other interpretation but to express a basic statement or to provide information. However, alternative placements are possible (see below). FOC and TOP in the examples refer to Focus and Topic respectively (as used by Lambrech 1994; Chafe 2003, in Frawley 2003).

5. a. Nufiala dzodzo-ge etsɔ. PERIPHERY teacher leave-PROSP tomorrow “The teacher will leave tomorrow.”

b. ! Etsɔ nufiala dzodzo-ge. tomorrow teacher leave-PROSP

c. Etsɔ-la, nufiala dzodzo-ge. LDP tomorrow-TOP, teacher leave-PROSP “The teacher leaves tomorrow.”

d. Etsɔ -e nufiala dzodzo-ge.PrCS tomorrow-FOC teacher leave-PROSP “It is tomorrow that the teacher will leave/Tomorrow is when the teacher leaves.”

Example (5a) shows the basic or normal PERIPHERY position of Time adverbials in Ewe while (5b) seems problematic if the adverbial occurs in initial position. See the tree diagram for (5a) below.

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SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE

ARG NUC

ADV PRED

NP V

Maa te u ayi.

V

NUC

CORE

CLAUSE

SENTENCE


SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE

ARG NUC

NEG ADV PRED NEG

NP V

Nye maa te u ayi o.

V

NUC

CORE

CLAUSE

SENTENCE

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SENTENCE

CLAUSE

CORE PERIPHERY

ARG NUC

PRED

NP V ADV

Nufiala dzodzo-ge etsɔ

“The teacher will leave tomorrow.”

Examples (5c, d) show alternative placements; however, these positions are clearly marked and therefore will call for a difference in interpretation. In example (5c), the adverbial occurs with the bound form -la which is Topic marking. The adverbial is additionally marked with a comma which sets it clearly apart from the rest of the clause. The comma indicates a pause in the oral utterance. An example occurs in the following sentence, where the adverbial has scope over the whole utterance:

etsɔ -la, [nufiala dzodzo-ge.]

This position is the LDP (Left Detached Position) in RRG. The Left Detached Position branches from the SENTENCE layer. It is neither part


of the CLAUSE layer nor the CORE, but is part of the whole SENTENCE. See the LDP below.

SENTENCE

LDP CLAUSE

CORE

ADV ARG NUC

PRED

NP V

Etsɔ -la, Nufiala dzodzo-ge

“The teacher leaves tomorrow.”

Sentence (5d) is similar to (5c) in that it is marked. However, there is a visible difference in the coding of (5d) as opposed to (5c): there is the Focus morpheme –e which calls for emphasis in (5d) and this coding is

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not set off from the rest of the sentence with any comma (or pause in the utterance). This is the Pre CORE SLOT (PrCS) in RRG. Thus, comparing (5c, d) with (5a), unless intonation is added, the reading in (5a) is merely informative: the teacher will leave, and this tomorrow. The reading in (5c) is also informative; however, it informs in a special way: our attention is called to a specific day, “tomorrow” and no other day. This interpretation is clearly different from the basic reading in (5a). Example (5d) is further different: it presupposes that the hearer knows that the teacher will leave, but doesn’t know the time, which is placed in the front of the sentence and also marked with the suffix –e which emphasizes it. There is no presupposition reading or interpretation in either (5a) or (5c). The tree diagram below illustrates (5d).


SENTENCE

CLAUSE

PrCS CORE

ARG NUC

PRED

ADV NP V

Ets-e Nufiala dzodzo-ge.

Notice that even though the single item glossed as “tomorrow” is singled out as emphasized in (5d), this item is uttered or spoken as part and parcel of the whole clause. This means that there is no intonation break in the utterance, as shown below.

[Etsɔ -e Nufiala dzodzo-ge]

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This is precisely the position called the PrCS (Pre CORE SLOT), which is part of the CLAUSE layer, but outside of the CORE. (Compare with PrCS elements in English, e.g. “what”, “which”, “that”, in examples such as, What did you buy?; Which book are we talking about?; That story being told…etc. . These items are also clearly part of the clause and are not detached from it.) The CLAUSE layer in which the emphasized word occurs in (5d) is smaller than the SENTENCE layer, but bigger than the CORE.

What the discussion has shown so far is that Ewe Time adverbials have a basic position, PERIPHERY which is interpreted as merely informative; however, alternative positions which suggest other readings are possible. The observation is the same if the adverbial is a temporal PP (Nufiala dzodzo-ge le ŋdi me “The teacher will leave in the morning.”). Contrast this with Le ŋdi me la, Nufiala le dzodzo-ge “In the morning, the teacher will leave.’). Ewe adverbials that allow similar treatment in terms of placement and interpretation are as follows:

• Space/Place adverbials (minus locative arguments)• Modality (epistemic modality)

• Evidential adverbials

• Adverbials of reason

• Adverbials of condition

Some Ewe examples are as follows:

6. a. Kofi kple Ama-wo dogo le γeɖu-ƒe. Place Kofi and Ama-PL meet at dance-place “Kofi and Ama met at the dance.”

b. γeɖu-ƒe-e Kofi kple Ama-wo dogo le. dance-place-FOC Kofi and Ama-PL meet at “It was at the dance that Kofi and Ama met.”

7. a. Nyɔnu- ma to nyala na kpovitɔwo nuteƒekpɔtɔ-tɔe. Evid.woman-DEM tell story to policemen eye-witness-wise

“The woman told the policemen the story as an eye-witness.”


b. (Abe) Nuteƒekpɔtɔ-tɔe-la, nyɔnu ma to nyala na kpovitɔwo. like eye-witness-wise-TOP, woman- DEM tell story to policemen “Like an eye-witness, the woman told the story to the policemen.”

8. a. Sɔleme ma-anɔ anyi o ne etsi dza. Conditional: PER worship NEG-BE down NEG if water fall“No worship service will take place if it rains.”

b. Ne etsi dza-la, sɔleme ma-nɔ anyi o. Cond.: LDP if water fall-TOP, worship NEG-BE down NEG“If it rains, there will be no worship service.”

9. a. Me tsi megbe [elabena trɔtrɔ me va kaba o.] Reason: PER 1SG remain back [because lorry NEG come quick NEG]

“I am late because the lorry did not arrive on time.”

b. * [Elabena trɔtrɔ me va kaba o la], me- tsi megbe. [because lorry NEG come quick NEG TOP], ISG-remain

back

c. [Esime trɔtrɔ me va kaba o la], me-tsi megbe. Reason: LDP as/because lorry NEG come quickly NEG TOP], 1SG-remain back

“Because the lorry did not come on time, I am late.”

In each of these examples, the adverbial at the end of the sentence is able to undergo fronting for an alternative reading. At least one of the markers –la or –e can occur with the adverbials in initial position. The examples also show that additional elements occur where the adverbial is fronted; e.g., the adverbial PP in (6a) changes the order of its disjunctive elements in (6b), where the marker of the preposition is now placed at the end of the clause. Observe that there is no pause in the reading. Furthermore, elabena “because” in example (9a) becomes esime “as” to express the reason in initial position in (9c), etc. The (b) examples are clearly marked. These positions or placements come with a different reading and are therefore not the basic adverbial placements as seen in the (a) examples. The adverbials in (a) will occur in the PERIPHERY

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layer on the tree representation, while those in (b), except (9b), will occur in a different layer namely, PrCS if the adverbial is Focused with –e and LDP if the adverbial is Topicalized with –la. Finally, example (7) shows an adverbial expressing evidentiality, where the word in Ewe is a derived form. There are no particular evidential markers or forms in Ewe, but the concept exists and can be linguistically derived. Adverbials that express Modality (epistemic modality) behave in similar ways as those that express evidentiality in Ewe.

What the above discussion shows is that adverbials in Ewe, just as in English, can allow alternative placements. Some adverbials can easily be dropped and the sentence will still be understood if they are not that relevant for the interpretation of the predicates. However, when the alternative expression is acceptable, it is much more marked and comes with a difference in interpretation which justifies a different position/layer on the tree representation. The next examples concern other types of adverbials in terms of their positions/layers.

10. a. Ama nɔ zɔzɔ-m blewublewu/dzadzadza. Manner Ama BE.PAST walk.RED-PROG slowly/ silently

“Ama was walking slowly.”

b. Blewublewu-e/dzadzadza-e Ama nɔ zɔzɔ-m. slowly-FOC/silently-FOC Ama BE.PAST walk.RED-PROG “It was slowly (the way) Ama was walking.”

c. * Blewublewu-la/dzadzadza-la, Ama nɔ zɔzɔ -m.slowly-TOP/ silently-TOP, Ama BE.PAST walk.RED-PROG

d. * Ama nɔ zɔzɔ -m _______?Ama BE.PAST walk.RED- PROG _______?

Example (10a) has the manner adverbial at the final position, but is this PERIPHERY? The acceptable expression in (10b) suggests, in line with the statement above, that the adverbial can take an alternative position.


However, Example (10c) shows that the adverbial cannot be detached from the whole utterance, therefore it cannot occur in the LDP. LDP and PERIPHERY positions are for modifiers that are not required by the predicate and can easily be dropped. Furthermore, (10d) suggests that the manner adverbial is required for the predicate’s meaning, because if dropped, the expression is ungrammatical or incomplete. This is unlike the time adverbial, where it is possible to drop the adverbial in final position without the sense being affected. In which layer does the manner adverbial occur in Ewe? The answer seems to be CORE when the manner adverbial occurs in final position in the expression and PrCore Slot when the adverbial is fronted and marked with –e. This shows that final occurrence alone of the adverbial does not justify its treatment as PERIPHERY, but that it must be tested in terms of the type of adverbial, or there should be sound reasons to justify the position/layer in which it is placed. Directional, Location and Aspectual adverbials seem to behave as manner adverbials. Examples are below.

11. a. Ama tuta yi-na ɖe Kumasi. Directional: CORE Ama head go-HAB to Kumasi

“Ama is headed towards Kumasi.”

b. Me da ega-la ɖe ekplɔ-a dzi. Location: COREI put money-DET on table-DET on“I put the money on the table.”

c. Nunya ɖu nu-a [wo-vɔ] ƒioo. Aspectual: CORE Nunya eat food-DET PRO-finish completely. “Nunya ate (finished) the food completely.”

The predicate tuta yi “go towards/headed towards” requires an endpoint or goal to complete it, thus the Directional adverbial is not an adjunct; however it can be fronted with –e. Additionally, the predicate da “put” requires semantically someone who does the putting, the object put (somewhere), and the place to put the object. The Location adverbial is an argument and cannot occur in the PERIPHERY. Again, just because an element occurs in final position does not qualify it as a PERIPHERY element. Similarly, the degree adverbial ƒioo “completely” specifies the

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aspectual nature of the predicate and cannot be dropped. It occurs in final position but modifies the whole subordinate clause [wo-vɔ], which has its antecedent in the main clause. Since the adverbial modifies both predicate and argument, it is CORE. This is different from English where the basic Aspectual adverbial modifier occurs in the NUCLEAR, or simply NUC position (John ate completely the food/John completely ate the food). In Ewe, the NUCLEAR position for Aspectual adverbials is ungrammatical, as shown below.

12. a. *Ama ƒioo ɖu nu-a. Ama completely eat food-DET

b. * Ama ɖu ƒioo nu-a. Ama eat completely food-DET

The ungrammatical sentences above prove that Aspectual adverbials in Ewe modify not just the predicate but the predicate and argument and thus occur in the CORE. The examples below concern Degree adverbials.

13. a. kpovitɔ-a ƒo fiafitɔ-a vevie/ŋutɔ/sẽsie. Degree: CORE police-DET beat thief-DET strongly/well/ harshly/mercilessly

“The policeman beat the thief strongly/well/harshly/mercilessly.”

b. Vevie-e /ŋutɔ-e/sẽsie-e kpovitɔ-a ƒo fiafitɔ -a. Strongly-FOC/well-FOC/harshly-FOC policeman-DET beat thief-DET “It was very strongly/well/harshly/mercilessly that the policeman beat the thief.”

c. * kpovitɔ-a vevie/ŋutɔ/sẽsie ƒo fiafitɔ -a. policeman-DET strongly/well/harshly/mercilessly beat thief- DET

d. * kpovitɔ-a ƒo vevie/ŋutɔ/sẽsie fiafitɔ -a. policeman-DET beat strongly/well/harshly/mercilessly thief- DET


A Degree adverbial may or may not be specified for a given action predicate, which means that the degree specifier is not a strong requirement of the predicate. However, when a question is asked within a specific context that requires it, the degree specifier does not merely provide additional information but is an important characterization of the action, and therefore is a CORE element. It can be fronted with –e as the example in (13b) shows (the emphatic marker can also become –ye where the adverbial already ends with an identical form). The adverbial cannot be Topicalized with –la (not LDP) and cannot occur immediately before or after the predicate, as shown in (13c) and (13d) respectively. A summary of type plus layer is provided as follows:

Degree adverbial: CORE or PrCORE SLOT.

Some Deontic Modality adverbials in Ewe can occur only in a NUCLEAR layer, whereas others cannot.

14. a. Maa teŋu ayi/ Nye maa teŋu ayi o. Deontic Modality I can go/ I NEG can go NEG “I can go.”/ “I cannot go.”

b. * Maa ayi teŋu/ * Nye maa ayi teŋu o. I go can/* I NEG go can NEG

15. a. ɖewohĩ, Kofi vava-ge. Epistemic Modality perhaps/probably, Kofi come.RED-PROSP “Perhaps/probably, Kofi will come.”

b. Kofi vava-ge ɖewohĩ. Kofi come.RED-PROSP perhaps/probably “Kofi will come perhaps/probably.”

c. *Kofi ɖewohĩ vava-ge. Kofi perhaps/probably come.RED-PROSP

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The data suggest that Deontic adverbials such as teŋu “can” in Ewe have auxiliary function and therefore cannot be displaced; they are tightly connected with the predicate and therefore are only NUC adverbials. This is in line with what has been said earlier that since the deontics can function syntactically as verbs, they occur nearer to the predicate and are therefore resistant to movement. A similar point is made concerning Kwa languages in general (Aboh 2007), that these languages often make use of “grammatical particles …that serve to encode aspect or discourse specifications.” The Ewe deontic, in my view, can be interpreted along similar lines: it is used as a particular modifier of the verb and therefore syntactically and semantically is restrictive in this vein. This is not the case with the epistemic modality marker ɖewohĩ “maybe” which does not accept the NUC position in (15c), but can occur in either PERIPHERY (15b) or LDP (15a). Note that the item marked with a comma only is equivalent to the occurrence with –la. Thus, Deontic adverbials with auxiliary function occur only in the NUCLEAR layer, while the layer/position of Epistemic adverbials can vary between PERIPHERY and LDP. The tree diagram below illustrates the NUCLEAR occurrence. The Modality adverbial is linked to both the NUC in the Constituent projection and in the Operator projection and has the reading: I can [go].

Nyemaa teŋu ayi o.

Finally, Frequency adverbials seem to occur in several different layers, just like other adverbials (PERIPHERY, CORE, PrCORE SLOT, LDP). Those such as gbeɖe “never” can occur in a double negation construction in which their peripheral nature is clearly seen.

16. a. Nu-ma me dzɔ-na le mia-gbɔ gbeɖe o. Thing-DEM NEG happen-HAB at our-side never NEG “That thing never happens at our place.”

b. Nu-ma me dzɔ-na le mia-gbɔ o. thing-DEM NEG happen-HAB at our-side NEG “That thing doesn’t happen at our place.”


c. Nu-ma me dzɔ-na gbeɖe le mia-gbɔ o. thing-DEM NEG happen-HAB never at our-sideNEG “That thing doesn’t ever happen at our place.”

d. Gbeɖe, nu-ma me dzɔ-na le mia-gbɔ o. never, thing-DEM NEG happen-HAB at our-side NEG “Never! That thing doesn’t happen at our place.”

Example (16b) shows that the adverbial can be dropped and the negation sense will still be available since a negation already occurs in the sentence. (A clitic–like sound can accompany the expression in some cases where the ‘never’ is dropped.) Examples (16c, d) show alternative renditions of the adverbial. Observe that in (16d), a pause/comma alone marks the adverbial, which does not accept the –la Topic.

In summary, the discussion has shown so far that adverbials in Ewe can occur in more than one place in the sentence and that there is a basic position and a non-basic position. The non-basic position is clearly marked with either a Focus marker or Topic marker. Deontic Modality adverbials such as teŋu “can” are the exception. They occur in only a NUCLEAR position in Ewe.

Conclusion

The current article has shown that as with English, Ewe adverbials can take several positions in the sentence. It was observed that there is a basic placement, which depends on the type of adverbial, and a non-basic placement which is clearly marked in Ewe (English non-basic occurrences do not typically occur with particular markings). The alternative non-basic placements in Ewe also have differences in interpretation. The study has used RRG as a descriptive tool to interpret these adverbial behaviors in Ewe which can be compared with English. Table 2 shows a summary of adverbial placement as illustrated so far in Ewe.

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Table 2: Ewe Adverbial Type and Position-layer

Summary

No. Ewe Adverbial Type Position-Layer

1. Time adverbial: • Periphery (sentence final)• PrCore Slot, when Focused

with –e • LDP, when Topicalized with

–la2. Space/Place adverbials

(minus locative arguments)• Periphery • PrCore Slot• LDP

3. Epistemic Modality (e.g. ɖewohĩ ‘perhaps, probably’)

• Periphery • PrCore Slot• LDP

4. Evidential adverbials


5.

Adverbials of reason


6.Adverbials of condition • Periphery

• PrCore Slot• LDP

7. Frequency adverbials

• Periphery• CORE• PrCore Slot• LDP


8. Manner adverbials

• CORE (sentence final, but not Periphery)

• PrCore Slot (sentence initial with –e fronting)

9.Directional adverbials:

• CORE• PrCORE Slot

10.Location adverbials; (e.g. with verbs of ‘put’ not, for example, ate in the library)

• CORE • PrCore Slot

11. Aspectual adverbials (e.g. completely ate)

• CORE• PrCore Slot

12.Degree adverbial

• CORE• PrCore Slot

13. Deontic Modality adverbials NUC only. (These function as auxiliary, e.g. teŋu ‘can’)

The table shows that there are types of adverbials in Ewe that can occur only as NUC elements (Deontic). There is no other position for these. Other types can occur in the CORE (basic) position and alternate as PreCore Slot elements (e.g. Manner, Directional and Aspectual adverbials). A further set of adverbials are predominantly PERIPHERY adverbials but can freely alternate in a non-basic position as CORE, PreCore Slot or LDP depending on the sense intended. The alternative non-basic positions are clearly marked and come with differences in interpretation.

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References

Aboh, E. O. 2007. Leftward focus versus rightward focus: the Kwa-Bantu conspiracy. In SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics. 15:81-104. Retrieved July 8, 2011 at: http://www.soas.ac.uk/linguistics/research/workingpapers/volume15/file37801.pdf.

Beare, K. Adverb placement in English. Retrieved on April 5, 2011, at: http://esl.about.com/od/grammarstructures/a/adverb_placement.htm.

Blog. Adverbs/adverbials. Retrieved on February 2, 2011, at: http://aggslanguage.wordpress.com/4-adverbsadverbials/.

Capo, H. 1982. Phonologie comparative du Gbe. Sprache und Geschchte in Africa. 4: 207-223.

Chafe, W. 2003. Information flow. In William J. Frawley, ed. International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, second edition, 2: 277-280. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fiaga, G. K. 1997. Grammaire Eυe: Eυegbe Nutinya, 2e edition. Lomé, Togo: Editions Haho.

Frawley, W. J. ed. 2003. International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, second edition, 4. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lambrecht, K. 1994. Information structure and sentence form. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Van Valin, R. D. Jr. & LaPolla, R. J. 1997. Syntax: structure, meaning and function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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The Place We Call Home and Other Poems: A Review ArticleA.N. Mensah1

The question which inevitably arises whenever a prolific poet like Kofi Anyidoho publishes a new collection is: “So what is new here?” But perhaps before we confront that issue, it is useful to step back for a moment, rather like the Husago dancer that the poet is always invoking, to consider why the writing, the reading and, for us in the academic community, the study of poetry is a worthwhile activity. Poetry offers images which define emotively and felicitously our condition as human beings in a family, a nation and the world. A sociologist can write a paper supported with statistics on the “problem” of street children in urban Ghana. In comparison, a poet will offer an image of the anguish etched on the face of one imagined street child, and the emotional power of the poet’s picture may well be more instrumental than the sociological essay in a national campaign against the proliferation of street children. However, let us not get simple-minded. We are not saying we should throw out sociology in favour of poetry. What we are suggesting is that poetry should be an essential part of the way we look at and understand ourselves as human beings – bearing in mind that not all poetry is good.

Anyidoho’s poetry has been most valuable in helping us see ourselves in powerful and quite unforgettable ways. Consider the picture of the rich relatives of the poor man in “The Dance of the Hunchback” who will not spend a penny to assist him, but on his death are quite ready to honour him with a lavish funeral. The fact that the people of this country will often waste on funerals money they will not spend to assist the needy living is well-known, but the poet speaks of it in language that imprints powerfully on our minds the folly of our ways. We feel the pathos of the hunchback’s dirge for his brother and sympathize with the sad-funny image of him as he tries to perform his ungainly dance for the departed.

In addition to providing us with memorable and moving images of our national character, Anyidoho has shown increasing concern with what I call the Pan-African theme, an affirmation of the common identity of all Africans and all people of African descent wherever they may be living, 1 A.N. Mensah is Associate Professor in the Department of English, University of Ghana.


Haiti, Havana, Harlem or Harare. His poem, “Earthchild”(1985) is a celebration of the resilience of black people and of their ability to triumph over devastating and sustained adversity. In that poem, Jazz, the musical form invented by Africans in America, is the poet’s symbol of the black man’s capacity to create beauty out of cruelty and suffering, rather like the chokecherry tree on the back of Sethe, the heroine of Toni Morrison’s Beloved.

If solidarity with Africans the world over is a major theme of the poet’s work, the commitment to the homeland is an equally important concern. The magnetic power of home is a message he conveys emphatically in his early poem, “The Homing Call of Earth” in which he contrasts the natural simplicity of his African homeland with the technological wizardry of America where he happened at a time to be living as a student, and concludes:

• But against the distant gleam of shooting stars• I choose and will choose again and again• The Homing Call of Earth• I am EarthChild turned to ghost• At Festivals of MoonChildren.

In other words, despite the blandishments of the West, he, as an African from a specific corner of that continent, is only truly alive on the simple terrain of his home.

Let us now return to our initial question, “What is new in the new collection?” The volume is in three parts or movements, to use the poet’s own designation, each with a different focus. The first movement, a series of poems titled Homage takes up again the Pan-African theme that we observed so beautifully expressed in the poem, “EarthChild”, and sees the African wherever he may be found as the inheritor of a common heritage of slavery, colonization, displacement and the loss of a significant part of his identity. These are themes the poet has already powerfully explored in his 1993 collection, AncestralLogic and CarribbeanBlues in which his purpose was not only to educate his reader on the situation of the African in the diaspora, but also to move the Africans towards a more

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positive view of themselves and help heal the psychic wounds inflicted by their history. The message of the first movement of the new collection is similar. However, while the mood of that earlier volume is a combination of anger and bitterness, the mood in The Place We Call Home and Other Poems is more positive and optimistic – with the dance as its recurrent symbol. The burden of the first movement seems to be that as Africans our future is still unmade and we need to go back to our past to gather the intellectual, moral and emotional resources we need in order to fashion a proper future for ourselves. And so the Husago dance is rhythmically invoked in the first two poems of the first movement to show the manner of our progress to our future and our revival from the battering received from the hurricanes of our history:

• Two steps forward• to where Hopes• rise like Rainbows.• One step backward• to where Sorrows• fall like Thunderstorms. (“Prelude”)

But as the poet makes clear in the poem, “Ancestral Roll-Call”, the past we need to confront is not one dark tunnel of unrelieved gloom and pain; it is one from which we can draw inspiration. And so in this poem which is a solemn invocation, the poet, speaking in person, calls upon the heroes of the African’s encounter with Europe, heroes whom a one-sided history has mainly chosen to forget. Thus the poet recalls Pedro Alonzo Nino “who in 1492/ sailed the tempestuous seas with Christophe Colomb”, but whose name is not mentioned in most accounts of the voyages of Columbus. The roll-call of Pan-African heroes includes several familiar names: Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Yaa Asantewa, Ann Nzinga, Queen Amina, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey among others. However, there are less well-known names like “Chief Albert of the Gold Coast/ one who brought a ship load of Africans back to the MotherLand,” King Zumbi, King Miguel, King Bayano, King Benkos, and the “Great Warrior-Poet Antara.”


Clearly, in this poem as with others in the first movement of the collection, Anyidoho is reclaiming the ancient role of the poet as griot who on ceremonial occasions both instructs and regales the assembled community with a performance of the narrative of the significant events and heroes of their past. These oral historians of old were masters of eloquence whose responsibility it was to keep the past alive within human memory rather than inert in books. Anyidoho shares with the griot the duty of rendering history as something to be felt and experienced in joy, pride and sorrow as the event narrated dictates. Sometimes as in the poem, “Stalemate”, the poet is even reproachful as he reminds us of the haste with which we have given up and continue to give up our cultural treasures in demeaning exchange for imported attitudes and systems of belief.

In “Harvest Dance”, the poet assumes the guise of a priest officiating at a ceremony of unification and forgiveness in which he calls on all peoples of African descent to reach their hands across the seas to each other, but, more importantly, to offer a hand to

… that sly Clansmanwho clasped the chains around your neckand offered the key to Slave Driver,not forgettingthat Liverpool Guy now standing to your Righttrembling with ancestral guilt and fear.

And finally, in the magnificent poem which concludes the first movement of the collection, “The Place We Call Home”, the poet assumes a persona who speaks with the weary and languorous tone of a traveler who has had to roam the world, but now feels the irresistible call to come home to the land of his birth, to the place whose memories haunt his every waking hour. Now, as indicated earlier, Anyidoho has written before on the powerful attraction of home in “The Homing Call of Earth” in which he contrasts the simplicity of his earthy African home with the technological gleam of America, and declares a feisty and polemical commitment to his homeland, despite its poverty. Home is evoked differently in “The Place We Call Home”. The persona, opening the poem with slow and subtle repetitions, suggests a much-travelled man who yearns wistfully (and certainly not combatively) for the place of his birth:

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I will come again to these ShoresI must come again to these Lands

Home is evoked here as a place of emotional solace rather than of ideological self-definition, and is sentimentalized rather than idealized. Even the shivering burden of having to walk through grass still wet with dew to fetch water from the stream – a chore he would as a child have done anything to escape – is recalled with a measure of affection: the cold morning dew is only a “nuisance”, nothing serious. Again, the teeth-chattering discomfort of the harmattan wind is remembered as a “biting touch”, an oxymoron, since “touch” as opposed to “grip” is usually gentle. Viewed through memory’s endearing prism, even the uncomfortable becomes mildly comfortable and nature herself is affectionately humanized: the hooting owl is “lonesome” and the shrieking seagull is an “orphan child,” as superb poetry is made to appear simple.

Of the characters that make up this sweetened landscape none is recalled with more feeling than

that Lead Sports Girl with a Slender Neckwho brought so many trophies homerewarded your Timid Smileswith a handkerchiefEmbroidered with your Secret Name.

The poem is made up of iconic memories which, in the persona’s mind, constitute the most precious and unforgettable moments of his life, and make up the time and place to which he yearns to return as an African tired of journeying and waywardness. Poems of homesickness and of yearning for “the days that are no more” court the danger of sentimentality. Perhaps Anyidoho escapes the danger by the simplicity of his diction and images and by his occasional humour as in the image of “the class Bully who is now a mere ScareCrow.” It seems that by closing that first movement, with its Pan-African theme, with a poem about his simple, rural, ancestral home, the poet invites home all Africans who seem to have lost their way to the village of his/their birth.


The second movement of the collection, CountDown to GroundZero, comprises nine poems in which the poet reflects on the subject of war: the generals who plan it, those who fight in it, those who suffer as unintended victims, the destruction it inflicts, and above all the stupidity and, in Wilfred Owen’s phrase, the pity of it.

There are satirical poems on the generals, all decked “in shiny medals/ issuing hourly briefs/ from cozy conference rooms”, while a “widowed mother’s only son/ Bleeds to death in DesertStorms.” In one portrait the mockery is so strong that it reminds the reader of the poet’s earlier debt to halo, the poetry of abuse. The poem tells the story of an old, retired, perhaps senile, general whose country for some reason decides to dig up and rehabilitate him. However,

[b]efore they could name Herohe stopped the Anthemwith a fart so LoudThe Heavens went Silent. (“Hero”)

Contrasted to the generals are the ordinary people of “ArmBushed” Iraq, the widows and orphans, endlessly wailing in the “FireStorm” of American bombs and the young American soldiers who

One by one convoy by convoy…must pay with Bloodthe bad debt of the CapitolGang. (“The CapitolGang”)

The most moving poem of the second movement is undoubtedly “nine-eleven”, composed in response to the cataclysmic events of that day in 2001. Written in language of the sheerest simplicity and structured on the page to suggest the fractured towers of the World Trade Center, the poem shuns all ideological posturing in order to express a cry from the heart at the awful horror of the massive tragedy which at least for a while seemed able to touch our very humanity:

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There will be time again for LovingThere will be time again for LaughterBut now Only the HurtremainsOnly the Painsurvives

Once again, we notice the slow rhythm, the varied repetitions and the simplicity of language which characterizes the collection deployed here to a very powerful effect, especially when coupled with haunting images:

one thousand body bagsten thousand body partsten billion DNAs

images suggestive of human beings disassembled into their elemental building particles – a total destruction of humanity. The ability to create such a powerful effect with so few words and such simple language is what makes Anyidoho a supreme poet.

The third movement, QuietTime, is a series of poetic musings on a variety of subjects including reflections of the deaths of Air Marshall Harry Dumashie and Prof. Willie Anku among others, the fate of the African in exile, thoughts on reaching 60, satirical sketches on Ghanaian politics, optimism at the birth of the new millennium, and so on.

Some of these poems, like “Among Dreams” (and also “Portrait I” and “Portrait II” in the first movement) are among the most lyrical written by the poet – so beautiful the reader simply must pause to catch his or her breath. Others, like “Just Fine”, are satirical in tone, mocking the governmental habit of putting a fine, hypocritical spin on things even when the national situation is a desperate one which demands honest admission and remedial action. One poem, “Happiness”, celebrates the magic of the Highlife as performed by those wonderful bands of yesteryear, The Ramblers, the Black Beats with Jerry Hansen and King Bruce respectively, in those dingy-magical nightclubs, Tip Toe, Silver Cup, etc.


The third movement closes more or less with “Post-Retirement Blues” in which the poet reflects on his retirement at age 60, and ponders the various roles which that master puppeteer, Time, forces us to play. Thus the poet, with cosmic and heroic imagery, talks of his youthful days when all the world lay open for him to explore and conquer:

Once I was young and green and eager.With SunRise playing in my EyesI thought I saw Futures clearer than the SkiesWith MoonBeams circling round my MindI was sure I could hear the call to ArmsAcross BattleFields filled with glorious Deeds

He forgets in his enthusiastic embrace of life’s challenges, that Time, mankind’s old enemy, is lying in wait to send him packing out his office when he turns 60, before he’s been able to complete his plans. And so his plans in tatters, he regretfully leaves his office and is obliged to adapt to a new lifestyle, a new pace of life, indeed to dance a new dance which he evokes in language reminiscent of his earliest work:

I would learn to shuffle my feetto this slow and sometimes gracefulsometimes mournful danceof giddy poise a dance of fading ancestral drums.

The dance, a recurrent motif in the poet’s work, here recalls the inelegant persona of “The Dance of the Hunchback”. The retired person is a figure engaged here in a dance which is more of a shuffle because he lacks the energy to perform it with the briskness of youth, but which in its slowness can sometimes be graceful, but also mournful recalling the persona’s regrets, and often unsteady because its guiding rhythms (values?) are becoming outmoded – wonderful images of the uncertain situation of the retired person. There is pathos here in this self-portrait of the retired professor, but there is also humour, a touch of self-mockery. Significantly, the image of the clumsy dancer links the poet’s latest work with his earliest work and with the oral tradition.

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Perhaps the most intriguing part of this complex meditation is introduced in the second part:

There will be Time enough Timeenough for the Final Bugle’s CallTime enough Time enoughfor drawing the balance sheetsfor settling outstanding debtsbringing closure to troubled day dreams.

There is a distinct echo here of the voice of T.S.Eliot’s Prufrock for whom Time is an excuse for inaction; for Prufrock, because there will be time to do it later one need not do anything now. Prufrock’s insistence that “there will be time” expresses a fake urgency. He is thus most unlike another literary persona, the one in Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” for whom there just isn’t enough time, for whom Time’s ‘winged chariot’ hurries inexorably near, and who feels pressed into immediate action. How does Anyidoho’s retiree persona relate to these other poetic personae? The retired professor seems to believe he has time to set his affairs in order, to draw “the balance sheets” and settle “outstanding debts.” He is not unaware of approaching death, the “final bugle’s call,” but seems to think that Time will leave him enough space to bring his life to a satisfying conclusion. But perhaps he is being ironic: it is this same Time that waylaid him at 60 before he could realize his dreams; what reason does he have to believe that Time will not pounce again from the “alleyways” before he has settled his affairs to his satisfaction? The logic of the poem seems to suggest that any notion we may entertain that “there will be time” is inescapably contingent: the final bugle’s call may come at any time. Time, not the human being, is the one in control. “Retirement Blues” is a delightful poem of many moods that seems to express its main position intertextually, providing a rare moment when this poet seems to deliberately recall a Western model.

So, what is new?

Many of the devices found in this new collection are repeated from earlier collections: the compounding of words to fuse them into fashioning a compound reality, as in “AncestralDreams”, “HarvestDance” and


“DesertStorm”, indeed sometimes as in “RainbowJoys” the effect of this fusion can be quite picturesque; the use of spaces between words and phrases to suggest pauses, the lack of punctuation becoming a liberating device which enables the reader to dwell on the pauses as she or he deems appropriate, creating in part his or her own rhythm; also the copious use of repetitions to create a ritualistic rhythm or the sense of a refrain.

Thematically there is the continuing elaboration of what I have labeled the Pan-African theme, the common history and identity of all Black people, which is the main focus of the first movement of this collection. While the third movement is eclectic in both theme and style, the second movement focuses on a new element in the work of this poet, modern warfare. The poet is satirical in his portraiture of some of the men of war, but it is characteristic of the maturity of this collection that in the most significant poem of the second movement, “nine-eleven”, what we hear, through the repeated rhythms, is the sorrowful voice of a grieving human being. We have encountered the sorrowful voice before in the dirges of the poet’s early work, but this is deeper, because it is starker, sparer, simpler.

The main quality of this collection is a mellower, gentler voice which elicits calmer emotions from the reader. The poems of the first movement, Homage, may recall the passionate Pan-Africanism of the earlier volume, AncestralLogic and CaribbeanBlues, but the voice we hear in this collection is the deliberate and dignified one of the griot who sometimes even leads his audience in a ritual prayer.

Again, Anyidoho’s expression has always been simple and in sharp contrast to the style of some early West African poets who deliberately wrote only for the university-educated reader. Yet in this collection, a greater evocative and surprising effect is achieved through this essentially basic diction as in:

How did you know where I Hidmy Peace of Mind away from Old Nightmares? (“Among Dreams”)

Going with evocative simplicity is a very economical and suggestive use of natural imagery, of Rainbow, MoonBeams, Storm, Midnight,

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Moonlight, LemonGroves, Harvest, SunRise, Thunderbolt and Twilight Hour to suggest qualities and states of the human soul. Thus we find in a poem that is a tribute to a dead hero

His mortal remains still glowed witha smile that put SunRise to Shame. (“En Route San Salvador”)

Finally in the twin poems titled “Portrait I” and “Portrait II” we see a new evocativeness in which the poet uses the power of words to call forth beings of such ineffable beauty and mystery as we have not seen before in his work. The woman called forth in these two poems is unlike any woman one has encountered in this world, a creature from the magic world of the poet’s imagination – an African woman hailing from the time of the ancestors, a kind that cannot be found in an age like this, mysterious, pure, sensual and supremely beautiful:

There were water liliesin the deep endof the pool in her eyes. (“Portrait I”)Each breath she took was markedby the faintest trembling of her breasts

……………………………………………………………

And Oh that Rainbow in her Smile!And Oh! That Rainbow in her Smile!!! (“Portrait II”)Most poetry is the attempt to use language to express what appears to be out of the normal reach of language, but it would seem that here the poet seems to really stretch the possibilities of language, and this is certainly new; as indeed is the introduction of “Ohs!” and “Ahs!” into his poetry as if to indicate an awareness or vision that lies beyond the reach of words and at which he can only gasp. Perhaps the highest tribute the poet pays to the gift of life is the fact that he follows his partly self-mocking poem about his retirement with this emotional outburst:But Ah! The GloryThe Fearsome Glory of This Life….! (“But Ah! The Glory!”)


Notes

1. Anyidoho, “The Dance of the Hunchback,” A Harvest of Our Dreams with Elegy for the Revolution (London: Heinemann, 1984) 83

2. Anyidoho, “Earthchild,” Earthchild with Brain Surgery (Accra: Woeli Publishing Services, 1985) 393 ibid, 43

3. T.S.Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol.2, 5th edition, ed. M.H. Abrams, et al. (New York and London: W.W.Norton &Co. 1986) 2174

4. Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress,” The Norton Anthology, vol. 1, 1387

LEGON JOURNAL OF THE HUMANITIES VOLUME 22 2011

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